It’s a great time of year as clubs gain places in limelight

IALWAYS love this time of year and all it brings, with the adult county titles decided and the full gamut of emotions witnessed from the sidelines, of joy matched equally with despair. And given all that happened from Friday to Sunday, there’s certainly no shortage of success stories to allude to in this column.

Last week I noted that six championships were to be completed, but that figure actually swelled to eight within hours of going to press as another two finals that were initially postponed by a week were put back on the schedule.

As it happened though, only six trophies were handed over after all since two of the hurling deciders went to replays.

Thanks to the scheduling of the games, I was able to attend all eight finals over the weekend, one Friday, four Saturday, and three Sunday.

In fact, if you throw the top two Wexford People Minor football finals into the mix - played Thursday and Saturday - I saw more than my fair share of matches to keep me occupied.

We all love watching the emergence of new champions, unless one’s own club happens to be on the receiving end of course, and we were certainly spoiled for choice as Shelmaliers set the tone that Naomh Eanna followed with such considerable distinction on a wonderful weekend for the club scene in Wexford.

Just to put their achievements in some perspective, the last year when both Senior champions were winning the title for the first time was as far back as 1968 when Buffers Alley and St. Anne’s were victorious.

Given the various commemorations of the feats of 50 years ago recently, it was entirely appropriate, if altogether coincidental, that history should be repeated in this manner.

I may be in a tiny minority, although I’m starting to wonder about that, but I wouldn’t be in the least bit upset if the inter-county G.A.A. scene ceased to exist for some bizarre reason, so long as the club games continued to take place.

There’s nothing I enjoy more than watching players give everything they have for the honour of their parish, and some of the best stories of all are often produced far removed from the main attractions of the Senior finals.

Just to give one shining example, I’ve known James Bolger of Rathgarogue-Cushinstown since 1992 when I was a selector and he was a player on the Wexford Juvenile football team.

I shook his hand at the Junior final in Bellefield on Saturday to congratulate him on his Junior ‘B’ win 24 hours earlier, and I was reminded that, at the age of 42, it was his first adult football championship medal from a career that started at the age of 15.

Just think about that for a moment - 27 years of striving to collect one precious medal. And it was only the start for James and his club as it happened, because he was also a mentor with their Juniors who gave full vent to their joy when they too fulfilled their destiny shortly after our brief conversation.

Players I have watched since their under-age days may now be in their golden years but are still going strong, with the likes of Leigh O’Brien and Darren O’Reilly (Horeswood) plus Mick O’Leary (Rathnure) adding to their impressive medal collections over the weekend.

That trio were well versed in winning Senior medals in the past, and that new experience will be cherished by the Shelmaliers and Naomh Eanna players over the weeks and months to come.

Both were extremely impressive in victory, and the main thing I now hope is that they will give their respective Leinster championship campaigns one hell of a shot.

Chances to perform on that stage don’t come around too often for the majority of clubs, so the opportunity to represent the county at provincial level should be warmly embraced.

As for this coming weekend, the last remainingw adult titles are down for decision, and I’m looking forward to seeing another four trophies being presented.

And let’s hope that somewhere along the line there will be at least one repeat of the fare produced in that classic contest between Cloughbawn and Fethard in the Intermediate hurling final, the best game of last weekend without a shadow of a doubt.