Old friends reunited in county final
EASTERN Harps and Tourlestrane are no strangers to a county final.
Their respective journeys to Sunday’s meeting at Markievicz Park are very different, both sides looking to add their own narrative to a chapter in Sligo GAA history.
For Tourlestrane, they want to win twoin-a-row and to become the first team to do so since the late 80s.
For Eastern Harps, it’s a first Senior County final since 2010 - a game in which they defeated Tourlestrane.
This will be the sixth final containing these two clubs in 20 years.
Tourlestrane have been in 10 county finals in that period, Eastern Harps have been part of seven, which one more yet to come for each.
The game on Sunday comes after the Senior Hurling Championship game between Calry/St. Joseph’s and Western Gaels at 2pm.
Eastern Harps manager Shane King admits it’s been seven years of ups and downs since, but says the belief is back in the club.
“Preparations have been good. There’s a buzz about the place for the last couple of weeks and we’re really looking forward to it. Training has been very good, there’s been a bite in it. Belief is back in the club again, and just looking forward to it.
“It’s been a long time, there’s been ups and down in the club, going into relegations, just about coming out of groups so it’s been nice getting into the county final.
“In the past the boys didn’t think they could get there. The belief is back.
“It is hard to believe it’s been seven years, seven years of ups and downs. It’s great that we are back into it. We’re just not going to take it for granted. We want to go on and win that final.”
King praised his side’s refusal to give up in games, and says their battling attitude has been second to none.
“Every game we go into, we know there’s the never-say-die attitude and we proved that against Mary’s in the second game.”
Harps have been allowed to blood in younger players, and their youthful exuberance has been vital to Harps’ season.
“Every club needs young lads coming up and a bit of fresh talent. We have the experienced boys there all the time, it’s nice to see young lads coming up and stepping up to the mark. It’s great for them to get into a county final.”
Their opponents Tourlestrane will have played in three consecutive weeks, but King says the momentum is likely to be with the South Sligo side.
“I don’t think it makes much of a difference. Momentum will be with them now, especially after getting over Tubbercurry in a one-sided game, I think that’s going to stand to them. We know what we have to do on the day and I’ll just look after our lads and let Tourlestrane look after themselves.
“We just have to get into the game from the beginning, don’t step back, drive forward as best we can and tackle in numbers. Tourlestrane are very good going forward and defensively they’re pretty strong too but we know if we stick to our game plan then we’ll be there or thereabouts going into the last few minutes, and hopefully finishing out strongly like we have been doing in every other game.”
There are no fresh injury concerns for Harps, and the gap between games has allowed a bit of recovery time for players.
Martin Doherty is likely to be back having been taken off against St. Mary’s with an injury.
“We have a couple of knocks from the previous game, they’re coming right at the right time so the extra week has given us a bit of an advantage for those lads.
“Martin Doherty should be ok, it was precautionary more than anything. The hamstring was getting a bit tight on him, we took him off at the right time and it hadn’t gone on him.”
King is under no illusions and is fully aware of how strong Tourlestrane are.
“Tourlestrane are a very good squad, they’re having a very good year as county champions, undefeated, winning the league, winning the Kiernan Cup, winning the Liam Kenny Cup.
“They’re a strong team. We know all about them. Their 15 is as strong as their subs that come on for them.”
Eamonn O’Hara admits that his side could have exited the Championship in their first semi-final meeting with Tubbercurry.
He won’t be getting carried away, though, and talk of two in a row takes a backseat, at least for now.
Tourlestrane came through a semi-final replay with Tubbercurry on Sunday, and O’Hara says it means nothing if they go out and lose on Sunday.
“We are happy. Last week we probably played well, and then we played poor patches of play against them and we were in control of the game and then they took a grip of it and we were so lucky that we weren’t knocked out.
“This week it was a different game, it was a different approach, we were mentally tuned in, the emotion was probably less. Tubber probably had their chance to beat us but they probably didn’t come with that intensity this week that we expected.
“Winning this week is all great and well but losing next week, today would mean nothing then.”
Tourlestrane’s strength in depth is one of their biggest strings on their bow, and O’Hara and Gerry McGowan have both always been willing to give fringe players a chance.
“We have options. We’ve made it very competitive within the group, everyone has a chance to play if they perform. Competition is great but it’s all about performing.”
And while some has expressed surprise at the fact that Eastern Harps have reached the final, O’Hara knows better than most that it is anything but a surprise.
“I wouldn’t be surprised. They beat St. Mary’s in the semi-final and Eastern Harps dealt with them really well. They were on the back foot in the semi-final and they got a bit of momentum and got a grip on the game and really controlled the game in the last 15 minutes and that’s when you win a game. They showed that they wanted it more, they had that hunger and I’m sure that they’ll come with it again the next day with the same desire and workrate. They’ll have got a lot of belief from that and they will.
“As I say about county finals they take a life of their own, lads can get a bit emotional and get caught up in it, there’s a parade and all kinds of things that go on. It can be a good day, it can be a bad day. It can be great but it can be the worst place in the world if you lose them. It’s another game, and if it has a title of the county final or the first league game then that’s how we’ll approach it.”
This game, O’Hara insists, will be treated like any other game. They will not be getting carried away.
It’s just another game. Since myself and Gerry came in we have told the lads that what’s happened in the past means diddly squat, it means nothing. That’s not being disrespectful. We have to create our own success, we’re treating is as if we have never won a county final. We just have to go here and win the next game.”