Freemount to take on Abbey Rovers in Junior C final

THE meeting of Abbey Rovers and Freemount in the County Junior C Football Championship Final offers a tasty affair at Páirc Uí Rinn on this Friday evening. Both sides come from strong hurling terrain yet the two clubs relish the opportunity to sample success with the bigger ball.

This C championship was introduced in 2016 for clubs with small playing numbers, Abbey Rovers and Freemount seek out first time wins and follow in the footsteps of previous outright victors Goleen (2016) and Lough Rovers (2017).

Castletownroche based Abbey Rovers lost that 2016 decider to Goleen, losing a county decider can be a shattering experience and it takes a lot of character to return.

That said Rovers entered the 2016 decider as outsiders yet they contributed handsomely to a thrilling contest only to come up short by a narrow two point margin.

From the 2018 campaign, it’s been a case of three games to date to better Ballinure, Ballypheane and last season’s defeated finalists St Johns. Against the latter, the way Rovers went about their business was a source of delight for supporters though what looked a routine operation became an exercise in survival down the home straight.

Key personnel in the Abbey line up are the experienced Donal Relihan, Johnny O’Callaghan, Dylan O’Connor, Shay Mullane and Dave Linehan. Castletownroche hold a proven record in hurling and they would dearly love Abbey Rovers add to the County JAHC titles from 1960/1982, County IHC honours won in 1964 and a County Junior B triumph from 1998.

Opponents Freemount hope for third time lucky, having unsuccessfully contested two county football finals in the B grade.

From 1992, Freemount faltered to Kilbrittain and 1998 might well had been a season to remember, a gallant effort fell short to Bride Rovers in the County JAHC Final before they relented to a strong Charleville combination in a football final.

En route to this decider, Freemount overcame a weakened Glenlara and reserved their best performance to sweep past Gleann na Laoi in a semi final. Shining facets in Freemount’s game was the dominance of their half back line with Denis Curtin, Jason Ballentyne and Dean Collins rarely putting afoot astray while Alan Ballentyne and Aidan O’Flynn worked effectively going forward.

Not too much is expected to separate the pair, no shortage of ambition in either Abbey Rovers or Freemount in their quest for a historic breakthrough.