St Loman’s and Moorefield continue trend of deeper urban footprint in club championship
WHEN Caltra and An Ghaeltacht were paired together for the 2004 All-Ireland club football final, it was portrayed as the perfect picture-postcard view of what the competition should represent.
Whatever marketing phrase has been attached since, or even before, was encapsulated by their meeting with five Meehan brothers taking on four Ó Sé siblings (the eldest brother Fergal was manager) and a couple of MacGearailts thrown in for good measure to embellish the family line.
They may have been from two of the traditionally stronger football counties in traditionally strong areas of those counties, west Kerry and north-east Galway, but all the demographics pushed back against such progress.
We shouldn’t say it can’t or won’t happen again. Of course it can. An Ghaeltacht have cruised into an All-Ireland intermediate semi-final next month, steadily rebuilding after the departure of some of those big hitters from the last decade.
And there were some parallels between Corofin’s meeting with Slaughtneil in the 2015 final, a meeting that’s on the cards again next March.
Though Corofin has one of the biggest catchment areas to draw players from on either side of the road from Galway city to Tuam, they are still, distinctly, a rural club.
The achievements of Slaughtneil, with just over 300 households to select from, over the last two years especially, are unprecedented.
That they were put to the pin of their collective collars in this year’s Ulster quarter-final to see off Donegal’s championship-league double winners Kilcar, drawing from a population of around 900, suggests that rural clubs can still thrive at the highest level.
But the shift appears to be continuing towards the larger areas of population. Three of the four All-Ireland club hurling semi-finalists come from cities, Dublin’s Cuala, Limerick’s Na Piarsaigh and Galway’s Liam Mellows mixed in with Slaughtneil.
FINALISTS
That’s a ratio of three out of four, rare for hurling, and now largely replicated in football where six of the eight provincial finalists are city or large provincial townbased – Nemo Rangers, Dr Crokes (Killarney), Castlebar Mitchels, Cavan Gaels and in Leinster, Moorefield (Newbridge) and St Loman’s (Mullingar).
After being snowed off in Portlaoise last weekend Moorefield and St Loman’s meet in tomorrow’s Leinster football final, eight days out from Christmas.
That has elicited more commentary about the pressure that inter-county football puts on the club game but it’s still better than the 2001 equivalent which fell on the day before Christmas Eve when Rathnew beat Na Fianna in a replay.
While the extra week is frustrating it favours neither side who have undertaken differing acts of defiance to get here.
Loman’s have become the dominant force in Westmeath football, a stark contrast from 1980 when the club was on its knees and a rallying call from then secretary Liam Davitt to address their falling status.
A first county title in 50 years was captured in 2013 and after letting it slip in 2014 they have reeled off a three-in-a-row, this year’s with consummate ease.
After drawing their first-round game with town rivals Mullingar Shamrocks they played six subsequent games, winning each by a minimum of six points.
Leinster has presented different challenges, however.
In the opening round against Longford champions Mullinalaghta, they came from six points down in the last quarter to win by one.
Their recovery mission from a seven-point deficit to Meath champions Simonstown Gaels was sharper and slightly less stressful but they still had to hold their nerve in a tight finish to win by two points.
In Shane Dempsey and Ken Casey they have two lively inside forwards, while the athleticism of Paul Sharry at midfield underpinned them the last day.
Moorefield are still missing Adam Tyrrell and Ryan Houlihan, both on tours of duty with the Defence Forces, while Cian O’Connor remains suspended after his red card against Rathnew was unsuccessfully challenged.
DEFIANCE
Their defiance has manifested in how they overcame Celbridge in the Kildare final after losing Daryl Flynn and David Whyte to red cards, how they then beat Portlaoise without that pair and rallied after O’Connor’s sending off to beat Rathnew, the conquerors of St Vincent’s.
Eanna O’Connor’s form has got better as the season has progressed and he has thrived in Leinster especially.
Both clubs are benefiting from the fruits of successful underage recruitment in expanding towns, a trend likely to be replicated in the years ahead. Moorefield v St Loman’s, Live, tomorrow, TG4, 2.0