‘We’re going to give it a right lash’
GARRY LAFFAN is hoping that his wounded animals can upset the odds against Bray Emmets.
The Wexford man knows a spade when he sees one. He has declared Sunday’s opponents as the favourites but it won’t stop him from planning to knock them off the pedestal upon which Glenealy resided for so long.
All Laffan wanted to do originally was to carry the Glens to within sight of their glories of yesteryear but now that they’ve hurled their way to the final, they’ll be doing all they can to complete the job.
“To be honest, I didn’t know because I knew they had been very strong up to three years ago but they’d struggled to get into the final for the last couple of years. The team was probably in a bit of transition as well, there was a lot of the older crew gone and a lot of the younger lads coming into the panel. I suppose realistically, we set our goal just to get back into the semi-final and take it from there. We wanted to get through the league games and make sure we had a semi-final to look forward to and take each game as it comes.
“Understandably we’re going to be underdogs but that’s fair enough. Bray have been very worthy champions for the last three years and realistically they have all the players back now that they had been missing during the year. The likes of the Henderson brothers, Mikey Lee, Christy Moorehouse, Padraig Doyle – these lads are all serious hurlers. For us to compete, we absolutely have to get a performance on the day. We’ve been inconsistent in the last couple of games so we just need to get one, full complete performance to give ourselves some kind of a chance.
“We hope to catch them on an off day and for our lads to perform to their full potential and we’ll have to see where that takes us.”
During the season, Laffan upped his side’s mission. They overcame some difficulties in achieving their ambition to reach a county final – most notably an undesirable gap between fixtures which lead to some rustiness against Eire Og.
“I knew after a couple of months that our lads were capable of getting to a county final. I always knew that for Glenealy to win it, they would have to beat Bray and that was always going to be a tough ask but there’s no point in us worrying about Bray too much because we have to try and get ourselves right for the day.
“There was a seven-week break for us since the last match before the semi-final so it was hard to keep lads going for that length of time and keep the focus for that length of time when there’s no games. It’s the same in every county though. All we can do is keep working and playing our challenge games but really, there’s nothing as good as a proper championship match. You can play all the challenge matches you like but until you play a championship match, you don’t really know where you’re at.
“3-17 is a good score. I’d be happy with that score any day of the week but conceding four goals – I wouldn’t be happy with that. We’ve plenty to work on but at the same time, we hadn’t hurled in a proper match for seven weeks and I’d be hopeful that that games has brought us on a bit and we’ll have learned a few things from it.”
Laffan attended the other semi-final for his sins and it showed him once again the kind of quality that he now has to try and nullify. He admits that his side may lack that one outstanding match-changing forward but he hopes that on the day his 15+ heroes will prove better than any Bray one.
“I was there for the semi-final – I was very impressed by it. I thought there was some great hurling. All year, I’ve been saying that Pat’s were a formidable team and I wasn’t one bit surprised that they ran Bray the whole way. They have some lovely hurlers – Andy O’Brien, Christy Moorehouse, Mikey Lee – they’re some of the best forwards in the county and if them lads hit good days, it’s very hard for other teams to compete. Andy is nearly unstoppable at this stage. Unfortunately, we probably don’t have a marquee forward in that sense but we’re hoping that as a team and as a group of 20 players, we’ll get a chance to play and we’re hoping that everyone together will be stronger than any one person.”
It is said that absence makes the heart grow fonder. Having gone hand-in-hand with the championship for many a year, Glenealy now return after a bit of time in the shadows and Laffan hopes that he can use that in his favour.
“I think Glenealy are just delighted to be back in the final. The last couple of years has been a bit of hurt for them but maybe it was no harm because after being at the top of the ladder for so long, you get a bit complacent. Maybe the last two years has brought them down to earth with a bit of a bang. You’re not going to win anything without hunger and without fighting hard and without working hard. After getting into 10 or 11 county finals in a row, maybe they thought these things would go on forever – unfortunately in sport it doesn’t work like that.”
Bray may have the star forwards, they may have the three-in-a-row, they may have the championship pedigree but that all counts for nothing when that sliotar is dropped in Joule Park on Sunday.
“There’s no problem – Bray are favourites and rightly so but we’re going up there to give it a good lash. Glenealy’s traditional alone means that nobody is going to go up there just to make up the numbers. They know how to win county finals – maybe not this group of players per se but there’s still a sprinkling of half a dozen lads there all have county medals and they all know what it’s about. I’m hoping that they’ll be able to use that experience to bring the younger lads through it and hopefully get the performance that’s good enough to win it.
“Every day is different. When it’s all said and done, things that happened last Saturday won’t happen on Sunday because it’s a completely different day. The atmosphere on county final day is different. “You’d be hoping that everyone is 100% up for it and you’re hoping that some lads don’t get effected by the day and the atmosphere of the county final. Our team is a brand new team (compared) to the team that played three years ago in the last county final. We’ve a lot of new faces and a lot of younger lads in there. There’s a sprinkling of the older generation there but realistically, it’s a new team and they’re trying to find their own way now and put Glenealy back on the map.”