An anxious week in store for Ferns and Cloughbawn

With Alan Aherne

ALOT of local club teams fell by the wayside in the two weeks I spent on holidays, and more are set to follow when we get to the crunch stage of the various hurling championships this coming weekend.

Looking at matters from a neutral viewpoint, two fixtures on Saturday jump off the page for me, and for entirely different reasons.

First up is the Pettitt’s Senior relegation final between Cloughbawn and Ferns St. Aidan’s in Bellefield at 2.30 p.m., and then there’s the quarter-final meeting of Oylegate-Glenbrien and Naomh Eanna in Innovate Wexford Park at 5 p.m.

It’s going to be a very anxious week for supporters of those two clubs battling for survival, and whatever happens we will be adjusting to the reality of seeing another strong force demoted to the Intermediate grade for 2018.

Cloughbawn have competed in every Senior championship without a break since 1974, while Ferns St. Aidan’s have been in the top flight for ten years and gave Oulart-The Ballagh a great run for their money in the county final four seasons ago.

The Clonroche crew also contested the relegation decider at the end of that same campaign and pipped Oylegate-Glenbrien by a point, but they wouldn’t have expected to be in the last chance saloon this time around after finishing as runners-up eleven months ago.

Last year’s group game between the clubs resulted in a 0-17 to 0-16 win for Cloughbawn, and it could be as close this time around. Rest assured that Bellefield will be an extremely tense spot from 2.30 p.m. to 3.45 p.m. on Saturday.

One of the best aspects of the new twelve-team format is that it shows such scant regard for tradition. In recent years we have also seen strongholds like Buffers Alley and St. Anne’s making the drop, while Rathnure and Faythe Harriers only survived by one-point margins in 2015 and 2016 respectively.

It’s no insult to Oylegate-Glenbrien to suggest that many onlookers expected them to only last one season as a Senior team after winning last year’s Intermediate crown, but they have emphatically proved all the doubters wrong.

And regardless of the outcome in Innovate Wexford Park on Saturday evening, it’s refreshing to note that either the Enniscorthy District crew or Naomh Eanna will be back a fortnight later to contest a semi-final.

It’s great to see the last two Intermediate title-holders in that position, and it will add a good deal of bite and intrigue to what promises to be a very entertaining contest.

Last year I was full of praise for the positive approach taken by the Gorey men in their 1-21 to 3-11 loss to Oulart-The Ballagh at the same stage, and they have continued to make fine strides.

Both sides will fancy their chances of advancing to a big occasion from this game, while St. Martin’s will be favourites to beat Buffers Alley beforehand but are unlikely to have it easy against such dogged opponents.

It’s hard to see anything other than an Oulart-The Ballagh win over Shelmaliers on Sunday, although the champions are probably more vulnerable at this stage than in a semi-final or final as Glynn-Barntown proved so memorably back in 2014.

The quarter-final action will conclude with another intriguing contest between Rathnure and Rapparees. And, similar to the meeting of Oylegate-Glenbrien and Naomh Eanna, both teams will entertain high hopes of making progress.

While tradition, and their table-topping group feats, would indicate that the black and ambers are favourites, their town rivals have a great deal of momentum on their side after crushing St. Martin’s in a game they had to win before virtually the same crew of players secured a Senior football semi-final spot last Saturday.

That was a fair turnaround after being in last year’s football relegation decider, and once again it underlines the thin line between top and bottom in our Senior championships.

Indeed, last weekend saw the departure of the last two football winners, and the 2016 runners-up, so the ultimate prize could go in any one of four directions next month. WHEN IS old too old? It’s not a question Rathnure can answer at the moment, not after this stunning upset of Oulart-The Ballagh in the county Senior camogie championship semi-final in St. Patrick’s Park on Sunday.

Starting in the full-back line with Bernie Holohan and Jean Hayden, moving through Claire O’Connor at five to Evelyn Quigley in midfield, Aoife O’Connor at half-forward all the way to Lenny Holohan in the corner - all are pushing deep into the thirties.

There’s no substitute for experience, they say, and it proved literal for Rathnure as they ground out a throwback victory.

Five of the six mentioned above played the full game, from start to finish, and guided their talented youth over the line. It was impressive to watch.

One could look at Oulart-The Ballagh and think of their great success, assuming they can cover up injuries to Karen Atkinson and Aideen Brennan with a hungry youngster. It doesn’t always work like that and those two, evidently, were badly missed.

Atkinson would likely have picked up Lenny Holohan and that loss was particularly stinging. The Rathnure number 15 put in a stunning performance.

She was unplayable, still holding her pace, mixing it in with the wily flicks of opponents’ hurls to get her into possession.

What Oulart-The Ballagh couldn’t get from their fringe players, Rathnure got in bucketloads. Each substitute for the Blackstairs girls contributed in a positive way. They were used at the right time and they were effective, confident and massively determined.

It started early on, as Ursula Jacob had two points on the board in the first four minutes but Holohan nipped across the full-back line to pick up possession 30 metres from goal and proceeded to flash a vicious, perfectly-placed shot off Sharon Kehoe’s hurl to the net.

After Stacey Kehoe put her side ahead again in the tenth minute, Oonagh Doyle settled the early nerves by calmly slotting her first dead-ball after a foul on Holohan. She added another to counter Shauna Sinnott’s score but Oulart-The Ballagh then got a little run going.

Anais Curran scored a superb point from the right sideline, Jacob registered her fourth dead-ball, and Emma Moran tapped over after being picked out by Shelley Kehoe as Oulart-The Ballagh moved 0-8 to 1-2 ahead.

Doyle scored just before the break, after Holohan was fouled again, but the two-point deficit would increase further after the re-start. It felt like Rathnure really needed to keep the ball out of the net to have any chance, and Fiona Donnellan did just that in the 32nd minute.

It was the Rathnure ‘keeper’s Jerzy Dudek moment. Much like the Polish netminder’s save from Shevchenko in the 2005 Champions League final, Donnellan just flung limbs and hurl out after Una Leacy blocked down her clearance, and somehow she deflected the sliother up and over the crossbar.

Oulart-The Ballagh still led by 0-11 to 1-4 as the game moved into the final quarter.

Holohan started the revival with a point but it was Aoife Guiney’s goal, after she raced away from the Oulart-The Ballagh full-back line and fired to the net, that really lifted the victors.

Thanks to alert linesman Aiden O’Brien, Marie Morrissey had won an earlier free that Doyle had scored, and she played the provider role for Nora Higgins’ point that put Rathnure ahead for just the second time in the 50th minute.

Holohan pointed after being picked out by Ciara O’Connor’s crossfield line ball. From that moment on, most of game was played in the Rathnure half of the field as they defended with every ounce of energy they had left.

A foul on Anais Curran resulted in Jacob putting a point between the sides a minute into injury time. Oulart-The Ballagh’s big chance to level came in the 67th minute when they won a ‘65.

Jacob hit it fairly well but Donnellan stuck the hurl up above the bar, cushioned the ball to herself, and her side won a free to clinch their final spot opposite St. Martin’s.

Rathnure: Fiona Donnellan; Jean Hayden, Louise O’Leary, Bernie Holohan; Claire O’Connor, Eimear O’Connor, Leanne Foley; Michelle Martin, Evelyn Quigley; Oonagh Doyle (0-4 frees), Aoife O’Connor, Jackie Quigley; Sandy Carr, Aoife Guiney (1-0), Lenny Holohan (1-2). Subs. - Nora Higgins (01) for Quigley (39), Marie Morrissey for Carr (39), Ciara O’Connor for Quigley (45), Laura Redmond for Doyle (54), Farren Byrne for E. O’Connor, inj. (60+3), also Laura Brennan, Eimear Byrne, Jackie Carr, Ashlynn O’Leary, Lisa Martin, Niamh O’Connor, Lizzie Whiteley, Emma O’Connor.

Oulart-The Ballagh: Sharon Kehoe; Aoife O’Connor, Ciara Storey, Louise Sinnott; Aoife Dunne, Mary Leacy, Katie Murphy; Shauna Sinnott (0-1), Shelley Kehoe; Anais Curran (0-1), Ursula Jacob (0-7, 6 frees), Diane Ryan; Stacey Kehoe (0-1), Una Leacy (0-1), Emma Moran (0-1). Subs. - Katie Gallagher for Ryan (48), also Saoirse Dunne, Laura Sinnott, Niamh Dempsey, Katie Roche, Leanne Nolan, Áine Sheridan, Rachel Sinnott, Eimear O’Connor, Lauren Sinnott, Orla Nimmo, Niamh Sinnott, Mairéad O’Brien, Brídín Redmond, Karen Atkinson, Aideen Brennan.

Referee: Philip Murphy (Faythe Harriers).