The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Hard not to see na Gaeul delivering again for Kerry
NA GAEIL will be without ace defender, Fergal Barry, for Saturday’s All-Ireland Club JFC Final against Rathgarogue/Cushinstown of Wexford at Croke Park (3.15pm).
The youngest of the three brothers in the Tralee side, Fergal was carried off during the first half of the semi-final victory over Kilmaine in Ennis, and manager Donal Rooney will have to plan without him for this historic moment in the club’s 40-year history.
“We got the scan results, thankfully it’s not the cruciate, but Fergal won’t be available for Saturday,” confirmed Rooney to The Kerryman on Monday morning.
On a more positive note, Diarmuid O’Connor came through unscathed from UCC’s shock Sigerson Cup quarter-final defeat to IT Carlow on Sunday, and will be able to line out alongside his inter-county teammate Jack Barry in the Na Gaeil engine room.
O’Connor came on at halftime and scored a point in the defending champions’ four-point
Sigerson defeat in Carlow, while Barry has now recovered from the ankle ligament problem that restricted him to an appearance off the bench at Cusack Park last time out.
Rathgarogue/Cushinstown are the first Wexford team to reach an All-Ireland club football decider and, since their county title win (their first at any grade since 1991), their odyssey to Croke Park has been certainly of the fairytale variety.
In the Leinster quarter-final, they recorded a stunning five-point victory over Dublin’s Craobh Chiarain (0-11 to 0-6) and they followed that up by beating Shannonbridge from Offaly (1-8 to 0-7) to reach the provincial final.
In an eerily similar scenario to what Na Gaeil faced against Kilmaine, Rathgarogue/Cushinstown needed extra-time (where they also scored their two points in the first period) before getting the better of Meath’s Clann na nGael (0-13 to 0-12) to lift the Leinster title. Centre-forward Daire Bolger was the star man, scoring five points from play.
In their recent All-Ireland semi-final in Newbridge, the James Bolger-trained side were also put to the absolute pin of their collar by Blackhill Emeralds from Monaghan before again showing wonderful character to scrape through by the minimum of margins (1-7 to 1-6), with Tadhg Cody firing over the winning point in the 56th minute.
Rathgarogue/Cushinstown have two players on Paul Galvin’s Wexford panel, centre-back
Eoin Porter and the aforementioned centre-forward Bolger, and they are pivotal figures in their game plan. The four Cody brothers, Peadar and Bryan in defence, Matthew at midfield and Tadhg up front, are also accomplished players, with the likes of Daniel
Martin Carroll and Bernard
Furlong also starring in their route to the final.
Na Gaeil bainisteoir
Rooney knows that they are an outfit that cannot be under-estimated.
“We have been doing our research and they look quite good, to be fair. They have got a few players with inter-county experience, some very nice forwards and they move the ball quite well from what we’ve seen so far,” he said.
“They have been underdogs in most of their games and that hasn’t really hindered them in any way. They have won their last two games, which were very tight, and that shows good character in their
group. Basically, they didn’t get to the All-Ireland Final by accident.”
While Fergal Barry will be missed, the Na Gaeil defence has been rock-solid throughout this campaign, and the likes of Ryan O’Neill, Damien Bourke, Andrew Barry and captain Eoin Doody are likely to keep up that trend on Saturday.
If Jack Barry and Diarmuid O’Connor can win the midfield battle, then Diarmuid Herlihy, Dara Devine, Dan Goggin and others are capable of making hay in attack.
The huge scare they received against Kilmaine could be the making of this Na Gaeil team. There will certainly be no signs of complacency in the camp this weekend. With such an intense focus that has been heightened by their last match, it’s extremely hard to see Na Gaeil being stopped. VERDICT: Na Gaeil