Maher praises young squad who seized the day

SHORTLY after Christy Moorehouse had hoisted the cup into the evening air in Aughrim, Bill Maher was still standing on the field taking in the fact that the Bray Emmets Senior hurlers has just secured a three-in-a-row of hurling crowns.

By doing so the Bray men have emulated Glenealy who bagged a treble in 1957, 58, and 59, and of course they’re four-in-a-row in more recent times. They are chasing that four-in-a-row as well as the one achieved by the Carnew men in 1978, 79, 80, and 81. They join Avondale who claimed a three-in-a-row in 1940, 41, and 42, Barndarrig who lifted the cup three times in 1954, 55, and 56, the Rocks from 1970, 71, and 71, and Kiltegan from their golden period in 1993, 94, and 95.

Maher, Liam Kenny, and the Bray boss John Henderson masterminded the replay plan that was put into practice by a really enthusiastic and driven bunch of men who proved far too capable for the Carnew challenge on the day.

“That’s how it turned out,” said Maher modestly. “The first day it could have gone any way but our lads were in the thick of it right from the start today and with the wind they really set about the job at hand from the very start.

“But, we still had a job to do for the second half,” he added.

The changes to the Bray starting 15 working like a dream with Ronan Cunningham causing major headaches under the puck out and with Sean Maloney’s work rate helping to have Carnew won the backfoot for most of the October afternoon.

“The lads that came in did really well. Seanie Maloney has been playing Intermediate but he was always in our sights for Senior and he played great. He was out there in the middle of the field and in the half-back line and he was great,” said Bill.

With Carnew snatching a late draw in the tight final the week previous, what areas had the Bray management focused on in the short turnaround?

“We had to focus on the scores. We needed to do the same thing and get the scores. We didn’t get them the last day. We did a lot of hard work but things maybe didn’t go our way,” he added.

Bill said the win was down to a team effort but he paid tribute to Paul and Ronan Cunningham, Seanie Maloney and the defence including Peter Kiely.

“I think Carnew scored 1-06 so our backs did very well. We didn’t feed them all week,” he joked, before adding that he hoped that the Bray Emmets team would go on and represent Wicklow well in the Leinster club championship.