Pádraig Pearses will have it all to do to advance in this Sunday’s All Ireland Intermediate Hurling Club Championship semi-final at Templetuohy, Tipperary (2.30pm ).
The Cork champions, Ballymartle, come into the tie with a big reputation, and their victory over the Munster senior champions in a recent challenge game indicates the standard they are capable of playing.
However the Galway flagbearers will travel with plenty of belief, and team trainer Ned Burns believes his side can prove the pundits wrong.
“There is a great passion in the panel and a wonderful community spirit behind the club. There are lots of leaders on the panel and they never give up. Men like Cyril Donnellan, team captain Tomás Flannery, Keril and Sean Hardiman and Aiden Kilkenny will be travelling to the game expecting to win. They have a huge belief in themselves and the club. They don’t expect to lose any day they go out and Sunday won’t be any different,” he says.
The panel has an exceptional number of brothers involved - some eight sets, the Donnellans, Kennys, Flannerys, Hardimans, Skehills, Rafterys, Wards, and the Hillarys.
Team manager John Jenkins and club chairman Michael Bodkin have been proactive in utilising guest coaches to take some sessions, including Waterford manager Davey Fitzgerald, Tipperary u-21 manager Ken Hogan, and Connacht council’s Damien Coleman.
Pearses are unbeaten in competitive action since last April and, if they can maintain that run of form for another 60 minutes, they will face either St John’s or Dicksboro in the All-Ireland final in Croke Park on Sunday February 13.
*Another Galway team, Bearna-Na Forbacha are also in an All-Ireland semi-final this weekend and they will face Meelin in the All-Ireland Junior club semi-final at 2.30pm in Eire Og in Ennis on Sunday. The winners of that tie will face either John Locks or Inniskeen in the final at Croke Park.
