Saint Mary’s and Carrick Davin’s Battle for Munster Final Spot

When it comes to G.A.A. Fixtures this weekend involving Waterford and Tipperary, it is fair to say that the Munster Senior Final between Ballygunner and Borris-Ileigh will receive the most column inches and the most air minutes when it comes to the media, and rightly so.

Most could be forgiven for thinking that this is the only such fixture between Waterford and Tipperary Clubs however, but they would be wrong, for the junior champions of Waterford and Tipperary Clash at a venue to be confirmed on Sunday evening last, with Clonmel expected to be the likely venue for the meeting of Saint Mary’s from West Waterford and Carrick Davins for South Tipperary.

The South Tipperary Club will go into this game as favourites. They recently beat Arravale Rovers from Tipperary Town on a 2-16 to 1-12 at Bansha two weeks ago. The Carrick Club began this year looking to make a return to the Intermediate Grade in the Premier County one year after they dropped down to the third grade of hurling in the Premier County and now that they have achieved this they will be looking to get into the senior grade which they played in until they dropped down a grade in 2013, having moved up in 2010 after winning the intermediate championship in 2009, when they beat Arravale Rovers at Thurles.

The South Tipperary side are a balanced team all round. Gerard Robinson made some very good saves for his side in the County Final. The full back line of Conor Mackey, Stephen Cronin and Raymond Cooke in that game had some shaky moments early on, but settled as the game went on, while wing backs Adam Foran and Jamie Houlihan with team captain Lee Mackey in between hurled well throughout that game.

In the middle of the field Michael Ryan and Billy Roche did a lot of the spade work for that win in Bansha, while in attack Luke Faulkner, Conor Whelan and Willie O’Dwyer contributed on the score sheet.

But while Saint Mary’s will go into this game as the underdog, maybe for the first time this year in the eyes of some, this will not phase the players.

If the Carrick full back line had it tough against Arravale Rovers they could again be in for a tough afternoon’s work against Saint Mary’s. Mike Kearns at Full Forward has caused problems for all around him this year. With his height and physical strength if he gets the ball into hand he will cause trouble, while if it is Jack Skehan and Jason Sheehan that are picked either side of him as was the case last weekend in the win over Castletown Ballyagran there is scores in them. Eoin Kearns is top scorer for the side this year and he won’t make too many mistakes when given the chance to shoot at the posts.

In the middle of the field Sean Fitzpatrick and Kevin Sheehan are hard working players liking defence with attack and also know how to find the posts. In their last two wins, Kevin Sheehan at times picked off scores at key moments that were very much motivating scores when needed.

In defence Denis Coffey, Aidan Kearney and Brendan McGourty have all inter county experience at their backs and it very much shows at times. Ronan Gleeson, a first cousin of inter county player Conor Gleeson and Cillian Tobin have come on a lot this year under the guidance of Dan Shanahan, while behind them John Patrick Fitzpatrick is another player with years of experience who have played for the county at all levels of hurling.

For Saint Mary’s the aim at the start of the year was to get out of the Junior Grade. Now that this is achieved anything else is a bonus. Confidence is high now in this group of players who are hurling well. They might go into this game as the underdog, but do not write them off advancing to a Munster Final next month, which would mean that Waterford Clubs would qualify for the Munster Final at Senior, Intermediate and Junior Grades in the one year for the first time.