Fire in Slane’s bellies as they break semi hoodoo
ENTERING Fr McManus Park in Skryne on Sunday for the Junior B Football semi-final, you could sense that it was going to be Slane’s day.
The amount of flags on cars and among Slane supporters gave one the feeling that they knew something the rest of us were oblivious to.
There was no real reason to believe that this year would be different than any other for Slane, or that they might at last succeed after tasting defeat at the second last hurdle on three occasions in recent seasons.
Last years beaten finalists Kilbride had already defeated them by 14 points in the group stages and there was no indication that this latest clash would be much different.
However, once proceedings got under way it was pretty obvious that Slane were intent on ending their losing sequence.
Any inferiority complex they might have had was left behind in the dressing-room as they played with a confidence and a passion that had Kilbride reeling.
They won the game in the opening half but showed resilience in the second 30 minutes to ensure they didn’t lose it.
Jim Harding has been involved with the club all his life, through thick and thin, but mostly the lean times. He started the year as a selector but was ‘upgraded’ to manager in mid-season.
‘It was a tough battle there today,’ he said afterwards. ‘We struggled badly early in the year, but the lads got their act together over the last few months, worked hard in training and they are now reaping the reward. death of former player Gary Harding. Gary played a starring role at full back as Slane triumphed in that 1993 final against Seneschalstown.
‘We need to get back up to a higher level, there is huge work going on behind the scene,’ Jim Harding continued. ‘We have just completed a new clubhouse and the underage structures which were put in place a number of years back are now beginning to bear fruit.
‘There has been a lot of hard work by a lot of people in the club over the last 10 years,’ he concluded.
Final opponents Na Fianna will probably start favourites on Sunday.
Former senior stars Tommy Cosgrave, Ollie Lewis, Brian Queeney and Dean Hendrick will backbone their challenge.
However, with the likes of Eoin Gibbs, Eoin Feeley, Jim and Francis Marry, Alan and Shane Harding, Eanna Mooney and Podge McGowan, Slane will feel that they can match anything the Baconstown/Enfield combination can throw at them.
With Dunboyne’s second team also contesting a final at the weekend against St Vincent’s, the county could be entering a stage where second strings from some of the bigger clubs and more densely populated areas start (or continue) to prove more powerful for the small rural club.
It’s a scenario that is hardly in the best interests of the GAA as a whole and few will begrudge Slane if they can pull this one off and at last start the climb back to where they were in former years.
The sad loss of Oliver and Gary Harding might prove an inspiration in their quest for glory.