Fixtures take early battering with 13 games postponed

THE FIXTURES list I printed last Tuesday was barely decipherable by Friday given the raft of changes that took place before a limited form of action went ahead over the weekend. The biblical rain that was forecast may not have arrived to the extent we feared in our little corner of the world, and the sun even appeared for a few pleasant hours, but pitches have taken such a battering in recent months that it was no surprise to see almost half of the planned games programme fall by the wayside.

The C.C.C.C. will be happy to have completed the entire round of six first round Tom Doyle Supplies Senior football championship matches given the trying circumstances, but the postponements intensified moving down through the grades.

Five out of six were played at Intermediate level, four from six at Intermediate ‘A’, just one in the Junior grade, and none of the five planned Junior ‘A’ ties went ahead.

The reasons weren’t entirely weather-related, although that was still the main cause of a mere 16 of the 29 scheduled fixtures going ahead.

Days, times and venues were changed to such an extent that only three matches took place exactly in accordance with the list supplied to this newspaper for publication in last Tuesday’s edition: the Senior double bill in Innovate Wexford Park on Saturday, and the first Intermediate outing scheduled for Hollymount on the same afternoon.

I don’t think it was ever envisaged that the Halo Tiles and Bathrooms Ferns Centre of Excellence was going to be used regularly for adult championship matches, but with the County Board in dire straits for venues, its pitches proved a godsend.

Almost half of the games played over the weekend, seven in total, took place at the Lodgewood venue, while the ever-reliable St. Patrick’s Park in Enniscorthy hosted four.

There was that double-header held in the main county ground, along with single fixtures in Hollymount, Blackwater and Cushinstown respectively.

The latter venue was the first to be declared unplayable for a scheduled Friday double bill, but the improved weather as the week wore on meant it was able to take one game Sunday afternoon.

However, the likes of Taghmon, Bree, Monageer, New Ross, Fr. Murphy Park, Camolin, Clongeen and the Ferns club grounds all had to shut their gates.

In many cases, hard-pressed clubs have been unable to use their own main pitches even to train thus far, so it was always going to be a tall order to expect everything to run according to plan.

With preparations hampered to such a degreew, some of the ring-rustiness on show was understandable, although early markers were still laid down across the top four grades.

While Kilanerin’s victory over Sarsfields wasn’t a major surprise, the eleven-point margin was certainly impressive.

And we don’t have long to wait before their mettle is tested fully, as they are due to face arch-rivals Castletown in round two this coming weekend.

It’s always interesting to note the new players and mentors on view when the domestic action resumes at this time of year, and one of the stand-outs from the weekend was the involvement of Shane Byrne, the former rugby international, as a selector with Castletown.

He’s not the first of course, as Nick Popplewell for one beat him to it as a St. Fintan’s mentor, but the Wicklow man will surely bring a welcome new perspective for a club trying to overcome their failure to advance from the last four county semi-finals on the trot.

Former Carlow dual star Johnny Nevin is at the helm with Duffry Rovers, and their draw with close rivals HWH-Bunclody was a good point to pick up given that the latter were within a whisker of beating Kilanerin in last year’s Intermediate final.

One of these years Naomh Eanna will finally make their way out of Intermediate ‘A’ ranks, and their start was certainly impressive.

And although just that one Junior game survived, it’s clear from Oylegate-Glenbrien’s resounding win that they can collect this title if they are able to manage the week-on, week-off switch from football to the hurling they favour at the business end of the year.