Pat’s are still favourites for the Senior football but Tommy’s injury has shortened the odds

THE persistent rain was certainly a spoilsport last Saturday for the Junior ‘A’ football semi-finals in Arklow.

As someone standing next to me noted none of the teams were as yet in winter football mode.

Both games ended in exciting draws – yet another headache for the fixtures people.

Fair play to all four teams for providing buckets of excitement for the enthusiastic but small crowd who gathered in a very wet and dreary Pearses’ Park.

The conditions made it very difficult for all teams and the ball itself was at times like a bar of soap especially during some of the heavier downpours but the horrible conditions added to the excitement as there were times when nobody knew what would happen next.

In the Ashford/St. Pat’s game both teams will welcome another day out.

Ashford must have thought that they had eventually done enough to qualify when leading by three points with what must have been only seconds left on the clock.

However, a late Sean Vickers goal for St. Pat’s with their last attack forced a memorable draw. St. Pat’s were awarded a very late free which they initially hit the crossbar with and as the ball nestled in the Ashford square Vickers buried it to the Ashford net and the goal proved to be the last kick of the game.

St. Pat’s seemed short of some of its team from their impressive quarter-final win and will be hoping to be back to full strength for the replay. This replay will be very hard to call and is now fixed for next Sunday morning in the convenient location of Rathnew.

The Coolboy/Kilcoole game had everything. Coolboy impressively raced into a four-point lead before Kilcoole clawed their way back to four points each. However, as half-time approached, Coolboy tagged on two late points to lead 0-06 to 0-04 at half-time.

The sending off of Luke O’Reilly was a big loss for Kilcoole and they played the entire second half with 14 men.

What a second half it was, end to end play with some fantastic scores by both sides. Kilcoole looked likely winners with four unanswered points as we headed into the back stretch but a late Coolboy goal put them back in the driving seat.

It took a last minute free from Lee Dutton to guarantee a draw for Kilcoole.

On a day when conditions made it very difficult for all I was very impressed with the point-taking by Coolboy’s P.J. Mulhall who gave an exhibition of score taking from both frees and open play and equally from Kilcoole’s Vinny Quigley and Jack Bellamy. Quigley won the midfield battle hands down.

I think Coolboy may have missed their chance as I envisage room for greater improvement in the Kilcoole team. This game is fixed for Wicklow town next Sunday.

The football team of the year so far has to be Ballinacor Intermediates.

Having qualified from the ‘group of death’ they subsequently dismissed last year’s champions, Rathnew, in the quarter-final and also this year’s favourites, Donard, to reach the final.

Carnew man, Joe Murphy, in what I believe is his first managerial role, has worked wonders with this team and they now find themselves only one game away from senior status.

No doubt AGB will have other ideas about this final but will their two straight red cards prove significant?

A big win for them over Kilmac whom I had as slight favourites to win.

It has been a good first year for Kilmac up at intermediate grade and while they will be disappointed with the result they will know that progress has been made.

Kilmac also had a great league campaign and they will be playing Division 1B football in 2017.

So it’s St. Pat’s and Baltinglass in the Senior final. Bray will be disappointed that having beaten the champions, Rathnew, they didn’t at least advance to the final.

When I saw the weather conditions on Saturday I feared that this young Bray team might find them more challenging than Baltinglass would.

A great win for St. Pat’s. As soon as the draw was made for the semi-final I always felt that the winner of the St. Pat’s/Blessington would be favourites to take the title, however with the Tommy Kelly injury being a big factor I still believe St. Pat’s will win but the odds have shortened.

Moving now to the small ball, this coming weekend we have the second Senior hurling semi-final between three-in-a-row chasing Bray Emmets and St. Pat’s.

Bray will be strong favourites not only for the semi-final but for the overall title.

The strength in depth of their panel makes them a very formidable outfit.

St. Pat’s will need to improve dramatically on their quarter-final performance over Avondale if they are to compete with Bray.

St. Pat’s are very happy to have returned to the semi-final stages for the first time in four years and will be looking for strong performances from the likes of John Connors, Gerry Connors, James Byrne, George O’Brien and Andy O’Brien if they are to have a realistic chance of advancing to the final.

Carnew have already qualified for the final following their recent two-point victory over Glenealy.

This was a tough battle for Casey O’Brien’s men and they will be delighted to get another crack at the title.

The recent match report may have hit a cord with both teams as it was somewhat hard hitting on both sides and certainly gave an honest reflection of the game, which did fail to live up to expectations. From a manager’s perspective this is where you want your team before a final, knowing that work has to be done and having the ammunition in black and white as backup.

For a dual club like Carnew the extra two weeks to prepare for the final will be of benefit and they will travel to Aughrim this Saturday to get a good look at their potential opposition.

In reality they will already have in-depth knowledge.

Where to for now Glenealy after this latest defeat? After their very recent four-in-a-row success it is hard to envisage another county final without the boys in red being involved.

No doubt this proud and hurling-mad village will regroup and be a major force in Wicklow hurling very soon.