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*Tomás Kelly celebrating St Joseph’s Tulla’s Harty Cup win over Ard Scoil Rís. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
COUNTY FINALS ARE OFTEN won by “the supporting cast” and that is likely to be the case in Sunday’s eagerly awaited clash between Ballyea and Éire Óg, Harty Cup winning coach Tomás Kelly maintained.
Kelly has been part of the Inagh/Kilnamona senior hurling management for the past two seasons, helping them on their run to last year’s county final beating Éire Óg in the semi-final before falling short against Ballyea in the decider.
While they didn’t face Ballyea in their run this year, Inamona bowed out to Éire Óg in the quarter-finals. Tomás believed both finalists are stronger now than they were in 2021. “You could probably argue both of the teams have got stronger in the past year. Ballyea didn’t have Tony Kelly in the county final last year and still won. For Éire Óg, the form of Gavin Cooney has been a huge boost, he’s one of their real unsung heroes, he may not be lighting it up on the scoreboard but he’s very hard to pin down as a link man in the middle third, he’s an inter-county footballer after all so that athleticism and know-how he has is a big boost to Éire Óg, he was out of action a bit last year with injury so the two of them are major additions to each team this year”.
He added, “They are the two most impressive sides going on the performances so far in the championship. Both teams have only had one major blip, Éire Óg in their first game against Kilmaley and then Ballyea against Cratloe in their last group game. They have been the best two teams in the championship and they are deserving to be in the final”.
A lot of focus will switch to the big-name players but the Clare U20 hurling selector flagged that a lesser-known light is likely to have a big say in the result. “Most people will talk about the marquee players, Tony Kelly, Shane O’Donnell, David Reidy and Niall Deasy but a lot of the time games like this are won by the supporting cast. Gavin Cooney has been very impressive all year for Éire Óg and the same with Mossy Gavin for Ballyea, it’s an unknown quantity because you could have somebody coming on from the bench to make a difference, all these factors could end up making the difference”.
Gary Brennan’s return has added great strength and options to Ballyea. Whether or not he starts remains to be seen. “It would be very hard for me to say if Gary Brennan should start or not for Ballyea, I’m not privy to the circumstances in their camp. He was one of the sole reasons Ballyea won last year’s county final, he dragged them kicking and screaming to victory, he is such a big player for them. Whether he starts or comes on is up to the Ballyea management but whatever they get out of Gary Brennan will be of massive help to them”.
Curtailing Tony Kelly will be one of the big tasks facing Éire Óg manager Matt Shannon and his management, the St Joseph’s Tulla teacher stated.“It can be very hard to know what to do when it comes to marking the big names. Éire Óg will focus as much as they can on their own game without getting caught up on Tony Kelly, you can’t get focused on one particular player. With the speed and intensity Éire Óg have played at all year they have been outstanding, they have their own man markers too and will have someone like Cian O’Dea or Ciaran Russell detailed to Tony. Mattie Shannon will have a plan for Tony but it’s one thing having a plan for him and another thing it coming to fruition”.
“The $64,000 dollar question is to try call who will win. If I was to put my neck on the block, I’d have to say Ballyea. They just don’t know when they’re beaten, when it comes to a scrap and the last few minutes of a game they keep going. They of course have Tony Kelly in their ranks, I give them the nod but only by a point, I don’t see much separating them, it all points to going down to the wire. If it went to a replay, I wouldn’t be surprised”.
