Our two provincial champions dare to dream of more
With Alan Aherne
WE’RE RAPIDLY approaching that exciting time of year when children dream of what Santa will bring while the adults look forward to some festive relaxation before turning their attention towards a better and brighter 2018.
And as the Christmas shopping gathers pace in the weeks to come, I’m sure that there will be an extra spring in the step of the members of two clubs from opposite ends of the county.
Fethard and Kilanerin are both smack-bang in the middle of a glorious adventure at present, with players, mentors and supporters hoping that it won’t end until they descend the steps of the Hogan Stand in Croke Park with an All-Ireland trophy.
Just like the proverbial city bus, we had waited since the Intermediate and Junior club championships began for a Wexford team to attain a Leinster title, and then two came along in the space of a fortnight.
Fethard broke the mould initially, and they followed it up with a three-point win over London’s Brothers Pearse on Saturday when they became the first Wexford team to play a competitive fixture in the re-developed Ruislip grounds, now named McGovern Park.
And while that was happening in front of a fantastic travelling support, Kilanerin were following them into the history books on home soil as a third successive narrow win resulted in provincial Intermediate glory.
Their mentors had done their homework the previous week when opponents Ballyboughal pipped Curraha from Meath - not Emo from Laois as my deadline-impaired brain somehow transferred into print via this column last week. I knew before the paper hit the streets that I had mixed up the quarter-final and semi-final opponents, but unfortunately in this game there’s no option other than waiting seven days before rectifying matters.
Now our newly-crowned Leinster champions will have no qualms about mixing festive cheer with some more tough training as they knuckle down before facing their Connacht counterparts in January.
Fethard will be taking on Sylane from Galway, while Kilanerin’s next opponents are Michael Glaveys from Roscommon, the home club of the Earley brothers.
The prospect of being just one game away from Croke Park would have been the last thing on their minds at the outset of their respective campaigns, but now they can dare to dream a little more and the support of the entire county will be behind them.
Moving to the Under-21 scene, I was reminded of my childhood fascination with Murphy’s law when news reached me on Saturday night that floodlight failure had led to the St. Martin’s versus Starlights game being abandoned.
Murphy is my mother’s maiden name, and the words of that adage were framed on the wall in my late grandparents’ home on Mill Park Road in Enniscorthy.
It stated that ‘anything that can go wrong will go wrong’ and there was an addendum: ‘and usually at the worst possible time’.
Earlier on Saturday, I had been telling a fellow spectator in a chilly Innovate Wexford Park that if everything went according to plan, the earliest weekend for the Greenstar Under-21 football Premier ‘A’ and ‘B’ championship finals would be December 16-17.
The only potential impediment on my mind at that stage was a possible draw after extra-time, and little did I think that darkness descending on Bellefield would bring matters to an abrupt halt and throw at least one more week on the schedule when it’s the last thing that anyone needs.
While playing under lights has its benefits and will become even more commonplace in future, there is a downside and unfortunately it’s not the first time that this problem has arisen in the county.
And it really was the worst possible game for it to happen in, because it was the last preliminary round clash, with the winners moving into the ‘A’ quarter-final while the losers will be in the ‘B’ last eight.
Therefore, some of the remaining contestants are facing lengthy delays owing to circumstances that nobody could have foreseen.
And with a lot of Under-21 players likely to feature with the Wexford Seniors in the O’Byrne Cup which starts on December 30, the window for completion is closing rapidly.
A SPECIAL piece of local sporting history was created in a bitterly cold Innovate Wexford Park on Saturday when Kilanerin became the first club from the county to clinch a provincial football title with a famous two-point victory over Ballyboughal from Dublin in a gripping AIB Intermediate championship final.
A red and white-themed party started on the field seconds after Offaly referee Chris Dwyer blew his whistle for the last time, and it’s likely to last for a few weeks yet before the new kings of Leinster turn their attention towards a dream All-Ireland semi-final date in January.
The finish to this game was about as gripping as it gets, with all eyes glued to the Clonard end goal deep into added time.
A brace of pointed frees from veteran attacker Matty Forde had pushed Kilanerin three clear, but they still had some defending to do when Ballyboughal playmaker Gerry Seaver got on the ball and was fouled in a central position.
Before the free was taken, the Dubs summoned their giant number 14 Martins Provizors from the bench to enter the fray for a second time, and it was clear what their intentions were as he planted himself on the edge of the square.
Seaver lobbed the ball in and it was eventually grabbed by John Rodgers whose driving second-half runs from midfield had kept his side in the game.
It was hard to see exactly what happened given the mass of bodies surrounding the Ballyboughal man, but referee Dwyer signalled for a penalty and showed a yellow card to Kilanerin’s Emmet O’Toole.
It was heart-stopping stuff for followers of both sides as Ciarán Wynne stepped up to the spot kick, knowing that if he beat Tom Hughes the game would be going to an additional 20 minutes.
Time seemed to stand still as he took his short run up before striking the ball slightly too high, and it grazed the crossbar before flying over to the clear relief of every man, woman and child from Kilanerin in the ground.
The north county side only had a few more seconds to survive before the game ended, leaving centre-back Colm Kavanagh with the pleasant task of climbing those by now familiar steps for a second time this year to collect an important piece of silverware.
This was a game of swaying fortunes with both teams producing their best spells of football at different stages, but ultimately Kilanerin displayed enough composure and finishing ability to put the icing on the cake near the end of a quite remarkable calendar year.
It started with the big decision to join forces with near neighbours Tara Rocks who supplied two of the 18 players used on Saturday in the shape of excellent full-back Brendan Hobbs, and midfielder Niall Breen who chipped in with a vital second-half point.
A return to Senior was their clear goal, and it took some tense moments before that feat was achieved with an extra-time victory over HWH-Bunclody after a top-quality contest at the same venue.
Once Kilanerin cleared the first hurdle in Leinster away to Rathcline of Longford, they sensed that more was possible given that they were guaranteed three home games on the trot if they could make their way to the final.
And after seeing off Raheens and Rochfortbridge in Gorey, the return journey to Innovate Wexford Park was no impediment to a group of players who - like the Fethard hurlers - now find themselves a mere 60 minutes away from an All-Ireland final appearance in Croke Park, with Michael Glaveys from Roscommon standing in their way.
It was clear from Saturday’s start that they were in the right frame of mind for the task of overcoming the north county Dublin visitors who had seen off Emo from Laois in a replay before recording a home semi-final win over Curraha from Meath by 3-7 to 0-15.
Kilanerin won the throw-in and played the ball around patiently for nearly two minutes, with no Ballyboughal man touching the ball before Emmet O’Toole was fouled. And even though Matty Forde missed the subsequent free, the Gorey District men seemed to have settled quickly and were in the right frame of mind.
Forde, as ever, required constant minding, and all three of the opposition’s fullback line had a go with the man-marking duties, starting with Gavin Dungan.
However, there was nothing the defender could do in the fifth minute when Niall Hughes played the perfect ball into space on the left, and Forde dashed out to kick the opening point.
The lead was quickly doubled, as Forde’s nephew, Dean O’Toole, claimed a mark from the kick-out, played a one-two with Mark Boland, and lobbed the ball over at the Clonard end.
Ballyboughal centre-back Cormac Flynn ventured forward to open their account via the left post in the seventh minute, but the Dubs had a major let-off less than 60 seconds later.
Mark Boland played a lovely crossfield ball to the right for Forde who sold a dummy to Dungan before crashing his attempt on goal to the left for the second of his team’s five wides (Ballyboughal had ten).
A mark by Gavin O’Toole from the restart ended with Emmet O’Toole making it 3-1 from a Forde handpass, but Ballyboughal responded as the lively Gerry Seaver - a forward who has represented Dublin at various levels - opened his personal account in the eleventh minute.
The visitors had moved Ciarán McGinley on to Forde by that stage, and their cause hadn’t been helped by the loss of big midfielder Cathal Flynn after just four minutes, having hobbled off early in the second quarter against Curraha seven days earlier.
The quality of Kilanerin’s passing to their inside forwards remained at a high standard as Colm Kavanagh picked out Emmet O’Toole to drill the ball over with his left peg.
And after Niall McElligott was booked for a foul on O’Toole, Matty Forde stepped up to stretch the lead to 0-5 to 0-2 in the 16th minute.
That was the last time for Kilanerin to register before the interval, though, with Ballyboughal growing into the game and drawing level by the change of ends thanks to three points without reply.
They did so despite losing another player, corner-back Ciarán McGinley, to injury, shortly after Ciarán Wynne had knocked over a free to make it 5-3.
Niall McElligott became the third man to place himself alongside Matty Forde before a Gerry Seaver point attempt rebounded off the left post at the town end, and Ben Callanan fed a handpass outside to Wynne who reduced arrears to the minimum.
Callanan and Gavin O’Toole entered the notebook in separate incidents, and a bout of dissent after the latter stoppage saw the ball moved forward and Gerry Seaver promptly equalised in the first added minute (0-5 each).
Indeed, the Dubs squandered a couple of late chances to take the lead, and Kilanerin were glad of the opportunity to re-group and to introduce Conor Devitt, happily fully recovered from a long-term injury, who was full of running and gave them a new outlet up front.
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