Football Final festival in store this weekend
Old Leighlin players admire the Nationalist trophy, they will hope to be lifting it again on Sunday afternoon. Photo: Pat Ahern
It all seems so pat and cosy now. The two best sides are in the Senior Football Championship final on Sunday. Yet it took Old Leighlin until the semi-final stage to show how good they were. Much of the post-match talk after their semi-final win was about the paucity of their opponents. That is all fair and good. Valid comment but Old Leighlin, as well as producing on the day, made Éire Óg look worse than they actually were.
The reigning champions will surely not concede as early a goal in the life-time of this squad as Eoghan Ruth caught them napping within seconds. What was impressive from there was Old Leighlin’s ability to hit back and score two vital points. After that they stayed in touch to half-time and then pulled away with relative ease in the second half.
James Dowling scored six points and back down the field, Sean Bambrick led a defence who only allowed Éire Óg to score two points in 30 minutes. The centre-back is based abroad but he is very much an integral part of the Old Leighlin challenge. The decision to bring him home as often as possible has paid dividends.
In contrast to the side they are facing on Sunday, Rathvilly were a bit better than their two point win (4-12 to 2-16) over Palatine in their semi-final would suggest. Darragh Murphy scored an early Rathvilly goal and two more came in quick succession in the second period.
At times, Rathvilly looked set to pull away from Palatine. They even led by 2-6 to 0-5 coming up to half-time but their rivals persisted and trailed 2-7 to 1-5 at the change of ends.
Rathvilly held Palatine at arms-length in the second half. Just at the end of the third quarter they led 4-8 to 1-9 but they never put the 2022 champions away. Six points up going into injury time, they only got through by two points.
The big question is was this a weakness not being able to put the game to bed or were Rathvilly just able to do what they had to do? They will say that when asked a question they always seemed to be able to have an answer.
Rathvilly
When Tinryland beat Ballon by 3-10 to 0-9 in round four of the championship the odds of these two sides meeting in the final must have been long. Yet here they are and while Tinryland will still be favourites, Ballon go into this with more than a fighting chance.
More than many of the finalists in previous years, Tinryland will be putting pressure on themselves to win. They kept it low-key over the last twelve months but they had to be hurting when they were relegated from senior football in 2025. Their rivals on Saturday will also feel a little bit of that pressure as they lost the final last year after a replay.
There has been only one glitch for Tinryland along the way when they lost to St Patricks in their opener. They made few mistakes since then but their 2-15 to 0-9 semi-final win over Kildavin-Clonegal flattered. The goals only came in the final minutes and for 45 minutes, the game was on a knife-edge.
Tinryland’s big game players produced that day. Maybe not in spades but they found a way. Diarmaid Walshe accounted for six points of the winning total and that included a two-pointer from play. Conor Carew scored 1-2 and Peter Hennessy showed his predatory instincts with an opportunist goal.
Ballon produced an excellent last third of the match winning performance against St Patricks who must have been devastated to lose after holding an advantage for long spells.
While sides may sometimes be given the task of climbing mountains, Ballon know games are not won or lost over a ten-minute spell. They hung in there against St Patricks and then swooped with Johnny Maher, Shane Duffy and Alex Kelliher on fire.
This time, if Ballon, are to atone for last year, they will have to produce a similar performance to their semi-final showing. In fact, they will have to dig even deeper and then hope that if they are still in the game, their scorers will find gaps in the Tinryland defence.
Yet one feels Tinryland have the combined youth and maturity in the side through Danny Moran, Diarmaid and Cormac Walshe, John Murphy, Marc Mullan and Cormac O’Brien to see them through.
The likes of Lorcan Doyle, Rory McCaffrey, Brian Maher and Evan Corr will not be found wanting for Ballon either.
Tinryland
If you were to go by results in the group stages then Palatine need not bother turning up here at all. They were fifth in the table winning three games and losing two. In contrast, O’Hanrahans won all their five games and in there was a comprehensive win over the side they are playing on Sunday.
But as Old Leighlin showed against Éire Óg in their senior semi-final, group form goes out the window at the knock-out stages so Palatine can come in here with a degree of optimism.
While the semi-final is a measure of the mental pressure a side has to face they coped with the challenge reasonably well. A 2-9 to 0-8 win over Naomh Eoin was hard-earned with both goals coming in the first half. Lee Walker led the way for the winners. It wasn’t just his five points but the example he gave where his work rate as huge. Cian Dowling, Blake Holmes and Ray Walker also had big games.
For Palatine, they cannot rely on a late, late show again. Forewarned is forearmed and the opposition will be ready for them. Conor Buggy leads the way up front scoring 1-5 in the semi-final. Marc Mulhall may not be a quintessential target man but he gets on the ball a lot. At the back, Conor Lawlor will anchor the defence. Someone will surely be given the task of man-marking him.
It really is hard to see Palatine winning this but one part of finals is respect. If O’Hanrahans show any sense of overconfidence here, Palatine could catch them. With Ber Horohan heading the O’Hanrahans management team it is hard to see any of his players not respecting the occasion and the opposition.
O’Hanrahans.
The two teams who topped the table come face to face in this tasty looking Junior B decider with St Patricks winning five games out of five and Clonmore losing only one game in the group.
Up the levels, both clubs would have to be disappointed not to be in the intermediate final so this will be some form of compensation for one of them on Saturday.
In the semi-final against Naomh Eoin, St Patricks easily retained their 100% record with a 3-14 to 3-4 win but Clonmore had to battle to get over Tinryland where they prevailed by 0-17 to 3-7 at the same stage. It won’t be lost on both sets of defences that they each conceded three goals over the hour.
Owen Coleman and Aaron Kelly led the way for Clonmore registering 0-6 and 0-4 respectively. The experienced David Mulvaney also scored two points.
For St Patricks, David Tobin impressed nailing 2-1 and Cillian O’Neill, Eoin O’Toole and TJ Kavanagh led the attack well.
If the Tullow side repeat their scoring rate they could win this one.
St Patricks
Here is a fascinating scenario. On one hand Fenagh will be looking to get something out of their season after losing their senior status when Rangers beat them in the relegation final. On the other hand, Ballon are looking for a Junior C and Intermediate double. What better way to get the weekend off to the perfect start than lifting a little piece of silverware in Netwatch Cullen Park on Friday night. A rising tide lifts all boats.
For Ballon, Cian Byrne is an accomplished goalkeeper. He will be protected by the likes of Kyle Maloney and Darren Geraghty. In the middle of the field, Conor Kearney is strong. Up front, Ballon had talent to burn with Freddie Gibson, Kevin Maher and Billy Flynn very knowledgeable when it comes to knowing where the posts are.
Fenagh ground out a 2-10 to 2-7 win over Palatine in their semi-final. Frankie Dowling scored 1-2 and Billy Nolan accounted for four points which also included a two-pointer from play. AJ Dooley scored a three-pointer. Jack Hughes is a solid goalkeeper and Sean Brennan anchors the defence at centre-back.
This is hard to call. The C championship was divided into two sections. Four in one and five (Ballon’s group) in the other. The two sides won all their games. Something has to give. Possibly the fact that Ballon are in two competitions still means they will have played more football. That should count.
Ballon
