Wexford teams can draw inspiration from Harriers
AS FÉILE na nGael 2017 looms large, the hundreds of Wexford youngsters preparing to take to the pitches at the weekend can take inspiration from Faythe Harriers who last year became just the second Wexford side to win Féile Division 1 honours after Oulart-The Ballagh claimed the crown back in 2001.
Faythe Harriers didn’t only win the 2016 Féile na nGael Division 1 championship in Cashel, they did it with panache, beating Glen Rovers from Cork by 2-3 to 0-2.
The victory left grown men with tears in their eyes, a club rejuvenated, an ecstatic set of mentors and a group of lads that took their incredible success in their stride.
There were no hard luck stories, this was simply the best Under-14 team in the country taking their just desserts.
The Wexford town club played six 15-minute-a-side games in the national championship, and nobody came closer than six points to them, a demolition job from start to finish.
The nerves were there for all to see in the final. Having beaten their final opponents Glen Rovers handsomely (3-6 to 0-5) in the group stages, the favourites’ tag hung around the necks of the Harriers lads - a stifling weight - and it was evident in the first-half.
Rovers were up for the fight, few teams from Leeside make it easy for you, and they took a lead in at the interval. However, this title was coming back to Wexford, back to Páirc Charman, and no team in the country was good enough to stop that happening.
Sometimes in under-age games managers have to ‘ hide’ players a little further behind in their development. The beauty of this Faythe Harriers team is that there were no weak links.
‘It’s a squad game’ is team sport’s biggest cliché nowa- days, but the Harriers truly had 24 players who could step up whenever they were needed.
The Harriers success will live long in the memory of supporters, and the lads that won it probably didn’t even realise its significance for some time.
The new national champions had come through their group games unbeaten on Friday, defeating Kilruane McDonaghs from Tipperary by 2-8 to 0-6 and Glen Rovers by 3-6 to 0-5.
Then, on the Saturday morn- ing they saw off their hosts, Toomevara of Tipperary, by 3-8 to 0-2 before journeying to Cloughjordan and overcoming Roscrea from Tipperary by 5-10 to 3-0 in the semi-final.
On Saturday evening they travelled to the home of hurling, -Semple Stadium in Thurles, and defeated Ballygunner of Waterford in the semi-final by 2-5 to 0-5. The dream was starting to become a reality at that stage, and on that Sunday morning in June, 2016, this outstanding team duly delivered.