Stradbally and The Nire to meet in County Senior Football Final for the seventh time

For the seventh time since 2002, the county senior football championship will be decided by a clash between Stradbally and The Nire.

There can be no doubting that these two sides have dominated the football scene in Waterford over the past decade and a half.

Stradbally have won eight finals since the turn of the Millennium and appeared in three other finals.

Their opponents this weekend have won three finals since the Millennium year and have appeared in five other finals, making them the second most consistent team in this period, behind the Cove-men.

Battles between the two down the years have been closely fought battles. In three of the County Final clashes between the two, a kick of the ball separated the sides, and in the other battles between the two, seven points has proved to be the winning margin between the sides, that coming in 2004 when Stradbally won fourth of their five in a row finals, winning the game on a 2-8 to 1-4 score line.

While winning margins between the two in finals has often been small, along the way there have been occasions when the two sides could not be separated and should this latest clash of the two be just as close few if any would be surprised.

The most recent clash of the two in a final came in 2012. On that occasion a replay was needed to decide a winner and even then it needed a late David Grey score for Stradbally to help them to a 1-8 to 0-10 win.

This clash is the second between the two this year.

They clashed at Fraher Field in the third round of games in the league section of the competition, a game that The Nire won 3-11 to 3-6.

On that occasion all the drama enfolded in the last five minutes of the game. At the break, The Nire held a comfortable 1-7 to 0-4 lead, the goal coming half way through the half, Shane Ryan fisting to the net from a Jamie Barron pass.

The winners hit a second goal ten minutes into the second half when Diarmuid Wall finished to the net to give his side a 2-9 to 0-4 lead and ten minutes later they had stretched their lead by one to 2-11 to 0-5.

With five minutes of the hour remaining, Michael Sweeney finished to The Nire net after he was put through by Christopher Casey.

A minute later, it was Christopher Casey’s turn from goal provider to goal scorer after he was put through by Kevin Lawlor.

The Nire broke the momentum in Stradbally’s flow with a Liam Lawlor goal one minute from the hour mark after he was set up by Keith Guiry who intercepted Michael Walsh, and while Stradbally would add a third goal through John Coffey it proved to be a mere consolation score.

Going on the respective form of the two sides in the semi finals, Stradbally will go into this weekend’s final as the favourites.

They had a good but hard fought win over holders Ballinacourty, while The Nire had a narrow win over An Rinn and in the process failed to score for the last twenty plus minutes of the game.

Both sides would be expected to field along familiar lines for this game but they could well be a number of positional changes to both sides.

Against An Rinn, Shane Ryan finished top scorer for The Nire with four points, two from placed balls, with Shane Walsh and Liam Lawlor chipping in with two points each with Brian Wall and Tommy Cooney also getting on the score sheet.

They will be looking for big performances from these players once more and will also require big performances from other players if they are to capture the Conway Cup for the first time since 2008.

Stradbally on Saturday evening last relied on Shane Ahern to kick seven of their scores. Robert Ahern was the next highest scorer with a goal while David Gray and Tommy Connors also go on the scorer sheet. If they are to win this weekend they will need these and other players to be on top of their game.

Regular readers of what I have to say will be only two well aware that when sides meet in recent proximity in the same competition, I often tend to favour the side that lost the first day to win the second clash.

Will I change my rule of thought for this game and say that The Nire will record a second win over Stradbally this year. If you are a Nire supporter, as much as I would like to see the club next door to my own win as I did last week with Modeligo, I think for The Nire to win here they will have to put in the best performance they have put in for a long time.

In recent battles between the two at this stage of the competition, Stradbally have the upper hand over The Nire. Stradbally have won five of the six finals between the two. On many of these occasions, they were prepared to do so by a small margin and will again this time around.

The Nire’s only victory over Stradbally in a county final came in 2005 when they won 1-5 to 0-3, a result that stopped Stradbally win a first ever five in a row of senior football championships in Waterford.

Should Stradbally win on Sunday afternoon they will move to within one title of the record nineteen titles won by Dungarvan. While most will be aware that Stradbally may not be as strong a side as they were a few years ago, there is still some great hunger within the club. Some of the team have some mileage on the clock, and somewhere in the back of their minds they might be thoughts of dropping down to play in the junior grade where the same demands would not be on them for a few years before hanging up their boots, but if they were to be part of a winning team on Sunday afternoon such thoughts may well be put to the furthermost past of the mind for another year or two.