Kilcormac/Killoughey fancied to pass Wexford test
By Kevin Egan
By virtue of Carrig and Riverstown’s win in their first round tie in the Leinster club JHC hurling championship, already Offaly’s three hurling sides have cleared the very, very low bar set by their three footballing counterparts in this winter’s provincial action.
Now the Tipperary border club, along with Kilccormac-Killoughey and Clodiagh Gaels, have the chance to get within an hour of a Leinster final, with each of them having tricky but winnable games on the slate this weekend.
Clodiagh Gaels are first into action tomorrow afternoon (Saturday) at Páirc Tailteann (1pm) against Kildalkey, a repeat of the tense and dramatic clash between the two sides at O’Connor Park two years ago, when the Gaels came from eight points behind at half-time – and a man down due to the first half dismissal of Cathal Curran – to record a memorable win.
It’s largely the same team for the Offaly Senior B champions, while on the Kildalkey side, the personnel looks quite similar too. Martin Healy, Evan Fitzgerald and Nicky Potterton were key figures for the team in their three-point win over Ratoath in this year’s Meath final, just as they were in Tullamore a couple of years ago.
Where there is a change is the introduction of 19-year-old Brian O’Halloran at midfield. A dual player with the Royal County at underage level, O’Halloran is scoring freely, notching two goals in the Meath semi-final and three points in the county final, and he has added a new dimension to a side that looks like as big a threat to overwhelming favourites Thomastown as there is in the competition.
Add home advantage, and the slight loss of momentum that comes with losing a county final as opposed to winning one, and Clodiagh Gaels look like they have three or four points to find here. Not insurmountable, but a significant job of work all the same.
Expectation builds for Kilcormac-Killoughey
Once Ballyhale Shamrocks got knocked over in this year’s Kilkenny senior final, people started to look around to see if another club from around Leinster might be ready to step in and take advantage of the absence of the blue-chip side from the south of the county.
Leaving aside for a moment the fact that the most likely team to “take advantage” remains O’Loughlin Gaels, who produced some excellent hurling in that final at Nowlan Park, Mount Leinster Rangers, Naas and Kilcormac-Killoughey have all been cited as teams from outside the perennial top ten counties that might be capable of pulling off a surprise win.
Given their presence on the opposite side of the draw to the other two clubs in that list and to O’Loughlin Gaels, Naas are getting the lion’s share of the focus, and with some justification. They are a club with tremendous depth, with a world of experience of winter hurling, and with an excellent physical and age profile.
Kilcormac-Killoughey don’t tick all of those boxes yet, even if their long-term ceiling might be a bit higher, but they will still be widely tipped to overcome Naomh Éanna on Sunday in the live TG4 game (Chadwicks Wexford Park, 1.30pm).
Taking the two sides on a player-for-player basis, there’s no reason why Kilcormac-Killoughey would be such clear favourites as they are, since there are plenty of heavyweights on the Naomh Éanna side, including Conor McDonald, Podge Doran, Charlie McGuckin and U-20 county star Cathal Dunbar.
However ,Wexford’s decision to run their county championship in a whirlwind format after the end of the inter-county championship, culminating in a county final towards the end of August, doesn’t do their clubs any favours when it comes to Leinster competition.
Whether it’s a positive from the point of view of player participation in both Gaelic games codes, or a positive in terms of getting their premium competition played in the best of weather, is another matter, and a theological question that we won’t get into here, except to say that our gut feeling is that we’d prefer to see Offaly continue to do things as they do, with alternating weekends featuring hurling and football.
The simple fact of the matter is that three months off is a huge barrier to overcome, and if Kilcormac-Killoughey can get into their stride from the start, they should be okay to come through this test. Not to win this game and give themselves a chance to test their mettle against O’Loughlin Gaels would be a small bit of a downer on the back of a memorable season for the club, and the likelihood is that they’ll go into next weekend’s U-20 final with plenty of momentum behind them.
Carrig and Riverstown staying close to home
Every year it seems that one club gets an ideal run of home games, and this year that team is Carrig and Riverstown, who could conceivably win a Leinster title without going outside the county. After a strong showing in their opening round clash with St. Brigid’s of Westmeath, they’ve been handed another excellent chance to progress with a clash against Good Counsel/Liffey Gaels of Dublin on Saturday in Birr (1.30pm).
Club amalgamations are generally associated with country clubs, but four years ago Good Counsel and Liffey Gaels came together, albeit Good Counsel would traditionally have been the hurling club, while Liffey Gaels would have been stronger on the football front.
Dublin sides have traditionally not gone well at this level and for 20 years it was something of a wasteland for them, until Commercials made an excellent run last year, losing the Leinster final by a point. By all accounts, however, Commercials were much better than the norm, as evidenced by their very decent showing at intermediate level this year.
In 2023, the Dublin junior championship was wide open with a lot of tight, competitive games, and on that basis, not to mention the familiar surroundings of St. Brendan’s Park and the benefit of a game a fortnight ago, Carrig and Riverstown should feel confident of continuing their run and taking another step towards a provincial final.