Holders looking for double
Enniscorthy favourites to end special year on a high
ON PAPER, Enniscorthy will be favourites when they make the long journey to Navan on Sunday in a bid to retain their Provincial Towns Cup title against Wicklow (4 p.m.).
But they will be the first to admit that for the club to end their season on a high they will need to hit the ground running in a final that is really catching the imagination.
While it has been business as usual in preparation for the final, Enniscorthy’s backroom team will be working over the lead-up to the game to ensure that recent successes will not be a distraction.
Having secured the Leinster League Division 1A title, Enniscorthy went on to take the round-robin series by storm, running up massive victory margins to emerge with a one hundred per cent record, and return to Senior club rugby for the first time in more than 80 years, a huge achievement for this group of players.
But having returned to the training ground in what has been a lengthy season, it can be seen that Enniscorthy players have been left unfazed by their successes.
They are determined to end the campaign on a high by retaining the Towns Cup which would bring to an end the most successful season in the history of the club.
This success has been reflected right through the set-up, with the seconds also performing magnificently, while the growth of under-age rugby in the club has been phenomenal.
With such success one is assured of a record crowd making the trek to Navan to try to ensure that the side has the necessary support for the retention of the cup.
This has been an incredible season for the club.
To have worked their way through many difficult games to Senior club rugby is a boost not alone for rugby in Enniscorthy but in the county as a whole.
Wexford Wanderers and Gorey have also made rapid strides, and look ready to achieve more over the coming seasons.
The Garden county side have a tremendous cup record and will provide formidable opposition. Enniscorthy may be full of confidence but Wicklow will be determined not to allow them control matters, especially as more recently, particularly through the cup, they have seen a return to the form that shows they have more quality than their league position suggests.
Enniscorthy, after their hiccup to Ashbourne in the All-Ireland Junior Cup final, learned from that game, believing that they could do much better.
That final was one of their performances that they will be disappointed with, particularly as they allowed their formidable opponents to build up an early lead.
Ashbourne showed how dangerous they can be with an opening surge, and this stood to them despite having to soak up Enniscorthy’s second-half pressure. They may have got the win but Enniscorthy came away desperately disappointed with their own performance.
As a result of that defeat, Enniscorthy showed what a strong and cohesive team they are. In the following games they returned with a sparkle and spring in their step as they went on to secure the Division 1A title, but it was their progress through the cup that really caught the eye.
The week after the Ashbourne defeat must have been incredibly frustrating, but they showed how determined a group they are by responding with a string of victories in both league and cup as they worked incredibly hard in getting their game back on track.
As Enniscorthy began to focus on bringing a successful end to their season, they turned on a style of rugby that their opponents could not match. They always focus on a performance, but their remaining games were so different than that witnessed against Ashbourne, as their expansive game saw them adapt a style that ripped the opposition apart.
Perhaps one of their finest 80 minutes was the cup semi-final against Gorey in Park Lane.
It may have been the tiniest of margins that brought such improvement, but they addressed what was wrong against Ashbourne, giving a display that was savoured by their supporters and neutrals alike.
The exciting thing about Enniscorthy is that they have brought to Junior rugby what is being seen from the likes of Leinster.
They have faith in their own ability, and move the ball not just accurately but at a speed one rarely sees in this grade of rugby.
And it was that ball in hand that enabled them demolish the Gorey challenge, while also take out their round robin opponents with a style of rugby that must have even surprised them.
Unfazed by what the opposition had to throw at them this season, Enniscorthy have the players and the ability to expose any weaknesses in the opposition.
They are a side that is growing in confidence, and it’s that expansive game which they have now nurtured that should see them complete an historic back-to-back cup success.