Three in-a-row chasing Kilmoyley might hold an edge

COUNTY SENIOR HURLING CHAMPIONSHIP SEMI-FINAL Ballyduff v Kilmoyley Sunday September 24 Austin Stack Park at 3.45pm

KILMOYLEY and Ballyduff met in last year’s Championship decider with the former emerging victorious after a replay. Central to their success on that particular occasion was the input of Shane Brick, who scored three points, and was subsequently named as the Man of the Match. His return from retirement proved to be the spark that afforded Kilmoyley that extra boost to get them over the line.

They will be unable to count on his contribution this time round, and some feel that it will prove to be significant in terms of their ambitions to retain the title and complete another three in a row. Maybe, but they won in 2015 without him so they are a team, and a club, who almost always find a way to negotiate any particular hurdle, and in the recent past they have been the dominant force in hurling here in the Kingdom. They have been solid, rather than spectacular, in their two outings to date beating Crotta O’Neills 3-16 to 0-14 and St Brendans 0-19 to 0-14 with Daniel Collins, again, the scorer in chief. Ballyduff, by contrast, have by their own standards been pretty poor, and must be considered as being somewhat fortunate to still be involved at the business end of the season. They struggled against Abbeydorney before eventually shading the verdict with a late point, 0-13 to 0-12.

Against Lixnaw they were simply outclassed, 3-19 to 1-16, and it took a last gasp winning goal against Causeway, 1-10 to 0-12, to ensure their progression to the penultimate stage of the competition. Certainly on the basis of those performances one couldn’t really fancy them to regain a title, which they last held in 2012. However, the landscape has changed somewhat since their last outing with both Jack Goulding and Daniel O’Carroll having returned from the United States, and played a part in Kerry’s recent All Ireland success at Under-21 level. No question, but that their addition will add significantly to their chances. However, a doubt still hangs over the availability of their team captain Mikey Boyle who was shown a straight red card in the game against Causeway. Seemingly, an appeal is due to be heard this week, which will determine whether he is available or not. His absence, would impact on their prospects obviously, but either way Ballyduff’s PRO Jack Harrington feels that they will be competitive.

“He has appealed, it will be heard this week. He would be a huge loss, he is captain, but, if he is unavailable the rest of the team will move it up a notch, will raise it and try to get over the line for him to enable him to play in the County final. Everybody is okay, a few small things maybe, but, we expect to have a full panel available. We started poorly, we seem to be improving, Daniel [O’Carroll], and Jack [Goulding] are back, so we will be competitive looking at the way they played with the Under 21s in Thurles. Jack O’Sullivan is moving well in training, he came on against Causeway, and he will be pushing hard for a starting place. Kilmoyley are short a few from last year, Shane Brick was a big player for them, we have started slowly in this year’s Championship, but looking at it now, it has suited us.”

Kilmoyley manager Fergie O’Loughlin is reasonably happy with the season to date, along with the preparations for this particular game, even if the long wait has posed its own problems. “We have a few niggles, nothing to worry about. We were determined this year to go the direct route but, really, we have had to adjust, given the long break. It’s very hard to manage, difficult to get the timing right in terms of peaking. We have not been setting the world alight, a few workmanlike performances. A lot of work to do, we went hard at it the last three weeks, and we are fitter, hungrier and sharper. We know what Ballyduff will bring, they are hard to break down, it’s going to be a ding dong battle, and, it will probably boil down to the breaks on the day.”

The scoring returns from both Padraig Boyle and Daniel Collins, will probably cancel each other out, and, Jack Goulding might well provide that little bit extra to push Ballyduff over the line. However, Kilmoyley are compact and resolute in defence, to date they haven’t as yet conceded a goal in this year’s competition, their midfield partnership is one which compliments each other’s quite effectively, and, they have a spread of nine different scorers, which might well be enough to shade the verdict for them, and, keep them on course for their 25th title.