Hurling & Camogie

Eoghan Rua aim to shock top Cats Glenmore in junior decider

Ciaran Gaile has been a reliable scorer from placed ball for Eoghan Rua during this campaign
Ciaran Gaile has been a reliable scorer from placed ball for Eoghan Rua during this campaign Ciaran Gaile has been a reliable scorer from placed ball for Eoghan Rua during this campaign

AIB All-Ireland Club Junior Hurling Championship final: Eoghan Rua v Glenmore (tomorrow, Croke Park, 2pm)

EOGHAN Rua make their fourth appearance at Croke Park in nine years tomorrow afternoon.

However, this junior hurling final is probably most challenging the Derry club, who lost an All-Ireland intermediate football final to Kerry’s Ardfert in 2007 but won intermediate camogie championships in 2010 and 2011, has been involved in.

The Derry and Ulster champions take on Kilkenny’s Glenmore who are minus talismanic Allstar forward Ger Aylward whose out for the season after a cruciate ligament injury, but can still field a side packed with inter-county stars.

There were raised eyebrows in Ulster when Eoghan Rua were graded in junior hurling club last season - they alternate with Na Magha at that level and outclassed Down’s Ballela in the Ulster final. But the boot is on the other foot tomorrow when the Coleraine side takes on a Kilkenny club that is punching way below its weight.

The club that brought through the great Christy Heffernan and Willie and Eddie O’Connor were All-Ireland senior champions in 1991 but fell on hard times since and lost their senior status in 2005 and dropped to the junior ranks two years ago.

Eoghan Rua manager Padraig O Mainain has no doubt about the challenge facing his side.

“They cantered through Kilkenny,” he said.

“They had a man sent off before the ball was threw in for the semi-final. They played the entire match with 14 men but still won by 10 or 12 points and they’ve been putting up big scores in the Leinster championship.

“They are obviously a force to be reckoned with, we need to cut the ball coming into their forwards and we’ll be better trying to let the ball go.

“With Kilkenny teams, their tackling is always good and it isn’t conducive to running the ball at them.”

O Mainain’s side is built on solid defensive foundations. They restricted Galway’s Connacht champions Sylane to just four points in the All-Ireland semi-final in January.

“The lads played very well,” he said.

“We weren’t really at ourselves and we were a bit nervous in the first half. Sylane missed a couple of scores – they missed a 21-yard free from in front of goal – but we did very well to curtail them.

“Fullen Gaels before that (All-Ireland quarter-final) we won by eight points but they hit the crossbar and had a goal disallowed so these games are quite tight and quite hard. The scoreline doesn’t really reflect how close they were but at least we’ve got well prepared and we had to fight hard – we weren’t cruising into the last 10 minutes, we had to fight to the final whistle.

“Hopefully that’ll stand to us in Croke Park, we’re looking forward to the big expanses of Croke Park – our boys are right and fit so that should suit us.”

Glenmore will include the Kilkenny minor and senior goalkeepers. David Aylward (minor) will be between the sticks tomorrow while Eoin Murphy (an All-Ireland winner with the Cats) plays at midfield. Richie Mullally is another Liam MacCarthy Cup winners while Ger Hayward’s brothers Mark and Darren will look to can step up in his absence, as will Alan and Shane Murphy.

Meanwhile, Eoghan Rua manager O Mainain should have a full panel to pick from and he’ll look to the experience of the five McGoldrick brothers – Sean Leo, Barry, Liam, Ciaran and Colm – as well as Niall Holly, Ciaran Lagan and club captain Anton Rafferty tomorrow.

Alongside their experience are talented youngsters like Paddy Mullan, Thomas Magee, Killian Butler, Ciaran Gaile, Ruairi Mooney and Pearse Dallas.

“There’s a few twinges because the pitch was a bit heavy for the semi-final and we’ve had to nurse a few boys through the last couple of weeks,” said O Mainain.

“But we have a full deck available to choose from.

“It’s a two horse race and we see this is an opportunity to win an Ulster final. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance for a team from county Derry, especially a team that has been struggling for numbers like Eoghan Rua. We need to go and grasp it and make the most of the opportunity.

“We’re certainly not going down to make up the numbers, we’ll not be sacrificial lambs on the altar of the great and good of Glenmore hurling. We’ll do our very best and we’ll see where that takes us.”