Seeking their sixth
Tinahely preparing for final like it was any other game
TINAHELY go chasing their sixth successive crown this Saturday evening at 6pm in Baltinglass when they take on Blessington in the Senior county final.
It’s an incredible statistic for a team that can’t be described as aged or mature given the steady supply of young players from their dynamic and healthy underage ranks and, given their performances in this year’s championship to date, it will take a powerful performance from Blessington to put a stop to the red and white juggernaut.
Going into this year’s top-drawer championship in Wicklow the Tinahely camp were a little bit of an unknown quantity with a new manager in place in former Old Leighlin men’s boss Seamus McLean who replaced Rory Stokes.
With McClean came John Blake and Carnew’s Robert Doyle while Declan O’Brien manages the Intermediate side so there is certainly no shortage of football know-how and understanding.
Any doubts as to Tinahely’s form under the new management system were blown away by their utter dismantling of a brave Valleymount challenge in their opening game of the championship. They followed this up with a strong showing against Baltinglass to leave them facing a Blessington side who produced some superb
showings to reach a final they fully deserve to be in.
Tinahely stalwart Emily Mulhall says that her team are approaching this final the same way they approach every game and that they are really looking forward to the challenge of playing Blessington this Saturday evening in Baltinglass.
‘We’re approaching this game
like any other match to be honest,’ said Emily, now, amazingly, considered as one of the more senior players on this team.
‘If you had told us back in March or April that we would be even having a championship we wouldn’t have been so sure so it’s great to be in this position,’ she added.
Emily explains that John Blake has been in the camp before and
that Robert Doyle brings a vast experience to the squad and the defender says that Seamus McClean has brought a real energy and thirst for knowledge to the job, with him regularly taking in other championship games in the county to survey the various threats throughout the campaign.
Mulhall says that they are taking Blessington incredibly seriously
and treating them with the respect that they deserve.
‘They’ll be up for this just as much as we are,’ she said. We’ll be taking absolutely nothing for granted going into this game. We know that there is big excitement up there and all we can do is approach the game the same as we approach every game,’ she added.
The end of last season brought an unusual feeling to the Tinahely camp – a defeat – when Offaly’s Naomh Ciaran toppled them in the Leinster club final.
Emily says that this Tinahely team are not one that allows defeats like that to dwell or fester and that other than finding things to improve or correct that they moved on very quickly.
‘For some of us we were back training with the county the following Tuesday evening so we had that distraction of playing with a different team. For us, every year we come back there are fresh players trying to break on to the panel and whether you are on a county team or not you don’t turn up to Tinahely expecting to have a place on this team. You have to earn your place here,’ she added.
Tinahely take on Blessington this Saturday evening at 6pm in Baltinglass in the county decider and there are few who would bet against them from achieving their sixth successive crown.
Blessington will have to come up with a way of stopping their powerful midfield and strong running while also limiting the quality attack led by the likes of Laura Hogan and Ciara Byrne. With quality all over the field in the likes of Jackie Kinch, Shannagh Goetelan, Sarah Hogan and the likes, to name just a few, this is a serious challenge Blessington are facing. Wicklow SFC final Tinahely v Blessington Baltinglass, 6pm Saturday, September 12