*Ennistymon’s Joshua Vaughan. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
Three weeks after they played a draw in round 2 of the championship Ennistymon and Clondegad will face off again, this time in the final of the Berwick Callinan Murphy under 21 A football championship.
Páirc Naomh Mhuire in Quilty will host the final on Sunday where the throw in time is 12 noon. The winners will receive the John Marrinan memorial cup.
Both survived hard fought contests in the semi-finals last weekend, Ennistymon winning by a point against Kilmurry Ibrickane while Clondegad needed extra time to overcome Cooraclare by two points.
Before a ball was kicked in this season’s title race Ennistymon were on a short list of favourites to win back a title they held in 2022 and 2023. They started their campaign with victory over the title holders St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield before a draw with Clondegad sealed their place in last week’s semi-final.
A final decision on the fitness of their captain Josh Vaughan and defender Daniel Brody won’t be made until nearer match time.
Speaking this week ahead of the decider manager Brendan Rouine said “we knew there wouldn’t be more than a kick of ball between the eight teams in the race, they are all good teams. Clondegad are playing very well, they really hit the ground running, they are the form team in this championship”.
Rouine outlined, “the under 21 competition is particularly important for clubs as it feeds into their adult sides. Look at Kilmurry Ibrickane, they won five or six in a row and went on to achieve notable senior success. It was the same with Éire Óg. Look at what came down the track for them after they had under 21 success”
Clondegad put down a marker as to their intentions when they caused a shock in the opening round when accounting for favourites Lissycasey who lost out after extra time in last year’s final.
There was no doubting the merit of their two point win on that occasions a win they followed with a draw against their final opponents which they achieved at the North Clare club’s venue.
They went into last week’s semi-final against Cooraclare as underdogs but they dictated matters and deservingly came out on top in a tie that required extra time.
They have played most of the campaign without Cian and Fiachra Kirby due to injury. They started the first round against Lissycasey but have been out of action since and following surgery on their injuries will again be absent this week.
Cillian Gavin and Dara Kennedy will again be absent this week due to injury. Despite the loss of this talented four, they have deservingly marched to Sunday’s final when they will be chasing a first title for their club at this level since 2012 when their title winning team on that occasion included Tony Kelly who has gone on to claim numerous honours at the top level in hurling.
“This is very important to us, maybe more so than to Ennistymon as they are in finals every second or third year. We are building a team. A lot of players have retired in recent seasons and we are trying to build again”, Clondegad manager Fintan Meaney explained.
Noting that “this team won an under 14B title, beating Miltown in the final and an under 17 A shield at the expense of Kilmurry Ibrickane”, he said “they are now in the under 21 A championship final. It’s all about progress”.
Meaney added, “the lads are giving 100% and they are playing as a unit. Ennistymon were down a couple of boys when we met a few weeks ago. They will have them back and we are likely to be going in as underdogs, It’s all about needing to be able to compete, we are aiming to win and they are in the same boat. A final is there to be won”.
When the sides met three weeks ago both were short key players, Clondegad being down the aforementioned injured players while Ennistymon were short Sean and Conor Rynne and James Cullinan, who are all available this week and expected to be in the starting line up. Their availability may prove vital but the North Clare side cannot afford to take anything for granted against a Clondegad outfit that has shown a huge hunger for victory throughout this campaign.
