Clashmore and Modeligo to contest eagerly awaited Western Intermediate Final

This year’s Western Intermediate Hurling Final at Fraher Field on Sunday promises to be an interesting one.

Twelve months ago it looked as if Clashmore/Kinsalebeg were to be relegated but an appeal was made to stay intermediate for 2015 and it proved to be a successful appeal.

Modeligo twelve months ago won the Western Junior Hurling Championship beating neighbours Colligan in the final, and went on to beat Bunmahon by a big margin in the county final at Fraher Field and then went on to beat Castlemartyr from Cork in the Munster Final at Mallow, repeating exactly what Ballysaggart did twelve months earlier.

Both sides contesting this year’s final however are doing so on merit.

Both sides topped their respective groups.

Modeligo have come through from the group stages with a record that reads three wins and one draw from their four games, while Clashmore’s record shows that they won three of their four group games in the league section of the competition and lost the other game.

Clashmore’s only loss in the championship this year’s was a narrow one point (0-12 to 1-8) against Brickeys in the first round of games back in early May.

Since then however its wins all the way for the ‘Still’ men as they beat Stradbally 3-12 to 0-13 in round two, An Rinn 3-21 to 1-13 in round three and had a bye in round four before beating 2014 runners up Ballinameela 4-21 to 0-13 in round 5.

Modeligo opened their campaign with a 0-17 to 1-14 draw with Ardmore and followed it up with a 3-12 to 2-12 win over 2013 Divisional, County and Munster Champions Ballysaggart in their second game. In their third game Modeligo had a 0-21 to 1-10 win over Shamrocks and rounded off the league section of the competition with a 1-16 to 1-14 win over Tourin.

Both sides in this weekend’s final thanks to winning their respective groups were given bye’s to the semi final stages of the knockout section of the competition.

Clashmore had a 3-10 to 0-12 over Stradbally who had beaten Shamrocks in the quarter finals, while Modeligo were paired with Ardmore who beat An Rinn 1-15 to 0-17 in the quarter finals.

It was no great surprise to see the two who drew in the first round of games again finish all square (Modeligo 2-12 Ardmore 1-15) and in the replay last weekend things were just as tight, with Modeligo coming out on top 1-15 to 1-14, the winning goal coming very late in the day from Thomas Walsh shortly after Tom Power had also scored a very late goal which looked as if he had sealed a win for Ardmore to set up a local derby final against Clashmore for the second time in three years.

Going into the game its hard to know which of the two sides is best placed.

For Modeligo it is the third weekend in a row that they are out, as they played Ardmore in the semi final and replay in the last two weekends.

Clashmore for their part have not played hurling for the past two weeks but they have fitted a senior football game against Ballinacourty in within the past week and a half.

Both sides will be looking to their inter county players here to inspire them.

For Clashmore there is no doubt Tadhg de Búrca is vitally important. With the past few days its widely reported that Brian O’Halloran is carrying an injury into this game and if he was to miss out for Clashmore here it would be a big blow to their chances.

However, Clashmore do not just depend on these players as they have some quality players in the likes of Edmond O’Halloran, Sean Fleming, Darren Foley, Paudie O’Rourke, Cillian O’Keeffe and Paul O’Connor.

For Clashmore Tom Devine is going to be vital to their hopes.

However Clashmore will not be putting all their energies into keeping him quiet as it would allow the likes of Brian and Kieran McCarthy, Pat Fitzgerald, Sean, Patrick and Nicky O’Donovan, Thomas Walsh, Shane, Jamie and Michael Troy as well as Pa Walsh amongst others to have big games.

So who will win?

The stats would favour Clashmore.

In their six games to date they have hit the net 14 times with Modeligo hitting half that amount.

At the other end of the field Clashmore are also fairing better. They have conceded just the one goal while Modeligo have conceded as many as they have scored.

However, every game is different and this is expected to be no different. Clashmore will go into the game as favourites, but if as is reported Brian O’Halloran is missing his loss will be a big one.

Expect maybe Tadhg de Búrca and Tom Devine to cancel each other out for much of the game with maybe one picking up the other around the field.

Modeligo will know that the past twelve months has been good to them when it comes to hurling regardless of what happens in this game. I expect their hurling year will come to an end on Sunday, but if they were to come out on top I would not be too surprised.