Championships reach the business end of proceedings
Chris Nolan is as important as ever for Mount Leinster Rangers Photo: Pat Ahern
These two sides met in the opening round of the championship with Rangers coming out on top (0-26 to 2-13).
It wasn’t a result which surprised anyone and now with the semi-finals approaching, Paul O’Brien, the Rangers manager is adamant it means nothing now.
“Knock-out hurling next week will be an awful lot different than some of the fare which has been thrown up in the group over the last five weeks. Definitely. That is the reality. Knock-out hurling will have games which will take on lives of their own,” he said after Rangers had defeated Bagenalstown Gaels in a game which meant nothing to anyone.
He says despite losing to both last year’s finalists in consecutive group games, Ballinkillen will be a different challenge now.
“We played them the first day out. We beat them. They played St Mullins the following week and those two results spurred them on. They have been excellent in their last two games. All through their team from in goal onwards they have a lot of quality players. That is not bull. They are good.”
Certainly Ballinkillen have names which everyone in Carlow hurling knows. Dion Wall. Ciaran Whelan. Sean Murphy to name a few “Jack Treacy is one of the top forwards in the county at the moment. He knows how to liven it up,” points out O’Brien who says Rangers Gary Lawlor was taken off as a precaution only minutes after he took the field in their last group game.
“Hopefully we got him off in time. After that, everyone is available to us. You want to be going in those big games fit and healthy. There are a lot of big calls to be made.”
Ballinkillen manager, Tommy Comerford, didn’t go into the games on Saturday. He went to a club game in Kilkenny so the feeling is that he wasn’t going to learn too much from the Rangers and Gaels fifth round dead rubber.
Ballinkillen played four games on the trot and had a bye in round five. Once they had qualified for the knock-out stages with wins over Naomh Eoin and Bagenalstown Gaels, they were able to breathe a little less faster.
“It definitely suited us. There were a few tired legs. A few lads had niggles. Nothing serious so the break suited us. Four games in a row is tough. Any team, even for a team with big panels,” reasoned Comerford.
Now it is all on the line. One hit and your gone. On the other hand, one big performance could ensure a place in the final. The manager says his side are ready to go into battle.
“We are well up for the game. Preparations are going well. Everyone is fit bar a few lads who have long term injuries.”
Ballinkillen are almost at full-strength but they are resigned that the talented, Shane Kelly is out. He hasn’t played all year.
“We would love to have him back. I was talking to him today. We will see him next year. Everyone else is in good spirits. We have nothing to fear. We will respect Rangers as well. They are a serious team with quality all over. We will have to play well on the day.” And can Ballinkillen beat the mighty Rangers?
“If we play well and we play as well as we can, we are in with a shout,” says the manager.
“Rangers are quality. We are not going to take them for granted. We met them in the first game but we felt we could have been better. Maybe Rangers were not at their best then. We were getting lads used to being in certain positions and I think we have worked on that since. If we turn up on the day, get our match-ups right, we have as good a chance as anyone else,” Comerford says.
Even with a weakened team and St Mullins would never say that, they were annoyed with themselves for not seeing off Naomh Eoin in that fifth round game on Saturday. Instead, the Myshall side turned them over and were worthy winners.
“We want to be winning every game. You know, to keep the momentum going. It is a pity we didn’t win there tonight. We will just have to dust ourselves down and get going again,” was the immediate reaction of Paul Doyle, the St Mullins captain, after the game.
Yet Doyle says it was important to give other players a chance to prove themselves before the selectors meet to select the starting team for the semi-final.
“You could say that we were through but we wanted to give lads a chance. Just to give them a go. Lads had a free shot at it there. Some young lads were playing. Mosey Murphy is only after doing his Leaving Cert. Colm Kavanagh is after coming into the panel this year. Cathal Connolly in the forwards. Stephen O’Brien making his first senior start. Lads coming off the bench. Putting on their first senior jersey for St Mullins,” says Doyle who does not go on sentiment.
“That is not handed out easy. Lads have to earn it. They are training away. Some of those have been training away for the last 5-6 years and never got a chance to wear the senior jersey.”
The experienced Carlow intercounty player respects the opposition and says the win over the champions will be a huge lift for them.
“Naomh Eoin are a good outfit. They have a good system in place and this win has given them a pep in their step. We will have to come back ready and see how we get on next week.”
Myshall manager, Tommy Morris, also realises the real test is yet to come. It was good to make the last four but there is more to come he hopes.
“Everyone wants to get to a semi-final. We were happy enough,” he says. The manager adds that St Mullins will not be fazed.
“Our lads were looking for a bit of positivity. I would say that if we beat them by twenty points, St Mullins wouldn’t have been worried.”
Morris is focussing on his players and he was happy with the way they went about their business.
“We needed a performance. We had two bad results against Rangers (0-19 to 6-19) and Ballinkillen (0-13 to 1-26). That knocked us back a bit. If we had been beaten by five to six points, we would still have been happy with that performance tonight.” Yet the Myshall side hurled really well on the night. Morris couldn’t have but been impressed.
“The middle third where John Michael Nolan, Diego Dunne and Eoin Hosey were very good. Ciaran Abbey there. Micheál Mullins coming on gave us a lift in energy. We were delighted with the run out. St Mullins ran in a few lads and they are probably happy with their run out as well.”
Naomh Eoin lost the experience of Dwain Kavanagh earlier in the season. Donal Jordan is also out. Tommy Nolan is struggling to make a return while Andy Jordan was sick last week and only played for thirty minutes against St Mullins.
On the other hand, Jack Kelly, was introduced at the interval and scored two good points in thirty minutes.
“We are massive underdogs. We will have to up it again from tonight,” said Morris on Saturday evening.
“St Mullins have been in county finals. We are glad to be there and we will give it everything. Talk to any of the four teams. I don’t think Ballinkillen will be stepping off Rangers and we won’t be doing so either.”
No disrespect to the senior semi-finals or any other game in the entire championship but this is a game to whet the appetite for Carlow hurling followers. Naomh Bríd are the table toppers and when the sides met recently they played out a fascinating draw (3-13 to 1-19) in Kilbride.
Mikey Bambrick scored 2-1 while Colin Byrne hit 1-2. That evening Dylan Townsend accumulated 1-14 for Burren which is just a little higher than average for one of the players of the intermediate championship.
Going into a tricky final game against Kildavin-Clonegal, there would have been comments that Burren were relying on Townsend. That night Cathal Healy continued his good form. Martin Carroll scored three points while Mark Sherratt came into the game at half-time and was a huge asset for Burren up front. They are definitely playing as a team.
Naomh Bríd have players with senior hurling or football intercounty experience in Fiach O’Toole, Bambrick, John Murphy and others. They probably have the wherewithal to come out of this one alive but it will be close.
Naomh Bríd
When these sides met in a group game, Rangers came out on top (2-18 to 1-18) at their home ground in Borris. It was a strange game where Carlow Town looked set to take control but then they died away in the second half. In stepped Jamie Nolan with two goals and Rangers never looked like losing when they went ahead.
The big question now was that a once-off or is there a bigger problem in the team?
It is hard to see where the leadership is going to come from in the Oak Park club. Possibly from the youth of John Phiri and Alex Delaney cannot afford to miss anything.
Nolan will, if not repeat his recent feat against Carlow, have to do something similar. Jack Foley and Luke Kavanagh have more in them than they have shown in recent games.
Rangers surge against the same opposition in the group game gets them the nod here.
Rangers.
Ballinkillen looked the real deal in their group game against Bagenalstown Gaels on Sunday. Mark Treacy knew where the posts were from play and placed balls while Conor Treacy was introduced at half-time, scored three vital points as his side laid down a marker to one of their biggest rivals.
Carlow Town’s second team have done well to get here. Brian Delaney is a motivator with experience. Ballinkillen have players who have played at a higher level and that is important.
Ballinkillen.
.
This is a fascinating contest. Bagenalstown Gaels will be fielding their second team against Rangers third team. One would expect the Gaels to prevail and earlier in the season, it looked as if Ballinkillen and the Barrowsiders would be the leading contenders. After all, the latter can call on the likes of John Gladney, Oisin Dillon, David Kennedy and Liam Cummins. Yet Rangers have gone about their business and, at the time of writing, have five wins out of six with an outstanding game against Setanta to come. For them, Connor Coleman, in goal has been a rock all season. Around the middle of the field Eddie Coady, Seamus Kelly and James Quinn have done well while Eoin Fenlon has been deadly from placed balls. You would have to say Bagenalstown but…..
Rangers
