Éire Óg's journey through this year's provincial club championship came to an abrupt end at the semi final stage on Sunday last in Dr Cullen Park. Turlough O'Connor's men were soundly beaten by an impressive showing from Offaly champions Rhode. Éire Óg can have no complaints overall with the result with the only dispute being the awarding of a first half penalty against them for a foul by Vinny Kavanagh on Pascal Kellaghan which looked to have occurred outside the large square.
Overall though the visitors held all the aces on the day. Both corner forwards tormented the home defence all through. Niall McNamee even though only 23 has long been recognised as one of the top forwards in the country and he embellished his reputation with another fine display on Sunday. If having to cope with McNamee's prowess was not enough for the beleaguered Éire Óg defence they also had to cope with the emerging talent of schoolboy Anton Sullivan who helped himself to two second half goals to all but finish the contest well before the final whistle. With Éire Óg enjoying the advantage of having a strong wind at their backs in the opening half they needed to get a good score on the board by half time.
This was not to be though as, despite having plenty of possession, they could not register the required scores. They only got three points in this period and found themselves behind by four with the aforementioned penalty after 17 minutes coming as the first hammer blow to their chances. The second half was always going to be a struggle and when Sullivan scored the first of his two goals just seconds after the restart there was only going to be one result and it was not going to please the loyal home following. Rhode showed an astute tactical awareness during this second half. There was a very noticeable change in their style of play after half time. From employing a short passing possession type game into the wind they switched immediately to the long ball directly into the full forward line. Both tactics worked beautifully given the prevailing conditions but the important thing was that they also had the players capable of executing the different game plans. Éire Óg have seldom suffered such a reversal, especially at home, but as mentioned earlier could not complain about the result on the day. Simon Rea was a big loss to the Carlow men as he had been coming into form and at this stage of the competition all your best players are needed. While they will never look for excuses, Éire Óg's punishing schedule over the last two months must also have been a factor in Sunday's tired performance.
I think they had games on seven out of eight weekends including replays. This will take its toll both physically and mentally on any team. Nevertheless they have done both their club and county proud yet again and are still the standard that the other clubs in Carlow must strive to reach. As for Rhode, well they gave a very impressive performance on Sunday but they face a huge task in overcoming Kilmacud Crokes in the final. The Dublin side is littered with inter county talent. Attackers like Mark Vaughn and Longford's Brian Kavanagh would trouble most defences. The Magee brothers, Ray Cosgrove, and Fermanagh's Liam McBarron all add to a very impressive line up. However as they showed on Sunday last Rhode are not short on talent themselves and are capable of taking the title.
Last Saturday night was one of celebration for the hurlers of the county as they received their Christy Ring and under twenty one All-Ireland medals at a function in the Talbot Hotel. Henry Shefflin was the guest of honour and made an excellent speech. He was due at training early the next morning himself as he prepares with his club Ballyhale Shamrocks for the eagerly anticipated Leinster final against Birr. A great night was had by all and a presentation was made to outgoing manager Jim Greene who played a big part in what was such a successful year for hurling in the county. Now the players must look forward. There will be new challenges ahead. The new league will be very interesting and will offer the stiffest challenge this group of players will have faced in their careers. How they cope with it will go a long way towards determining where Carlow really stands in the general hurling picture.
Tickets for the hurlers fund-raising event , “Who wants to be a Thousandaire?” have been selling very well. It is on tonight (Thursday ) in The Talbot Hotel. Last minute tickets are still available from all squad members at a cost of €15. All support would be greatly appreciated by the players who gave us all so much enjoyment during 2008.
