Will it be Title Number 7 for Dr. Crokes or Title Number 1 for The Nire

History would be made at Mallow on Sunday afternoon if The Nire were to overcome the challenge of Dr. Crokes from Kerry in the Munster Senior Club Football Championship Final.

In recent years it has become the done thing to knock football in Waterford.

But this is often something that is done very unfairly.

When The Nire take to the field on Sunday afternoon, it will be the eight time a Waterford side take part in such a game.

The Nire, Stradbally and Kilrossanty have taken part in two Munster Finals each and Ballinacourty one, since the first Waterford side (Stradbally) reached the final back in 1980, but on each occasion to now, the outcome has always being the same, defeat for the Waterford representatives.

Both of The Nire’s previous defeats (2006 and 2014) have come against opposition from The Kingdom, and therefore they will be hoping that they make it third time lucky.

While the Kerry side containing players of note including Colm Cooper will go into Sunday’s game as favourites, there will be many that feel that Benjie Whelan’s side could well make it third time luck for the Ballymacarbry based outfit.

The Nire are an experienced outfit. They recently won their eight County Senior Football Final since winning their first in 1993, and the recent win over a fancied Carberry Rangers side will give them greater confidence, especially when you consider that they played that game and the majority of the County Final without Martin Walsh and Maurice O’Gorman after both picked up head and facial injuries in the County Final win over Ballinacourty.

But they also face a very experienced side in Dr. Crokes.

The Kerry side since 2006 when they beat The Nire have added three more Munster Finals to their Roll of Honour, winning the three in a row between 2011 and 2013.

Nine of the side which took to the field against Loughmore-Castleiney were involved in their last Munster Final win and of that number half a dozen faced The Nire back in 2006

The Kerry side go into Sunday’s final on the back of a good year.

Just last Saturday, on a weekend when The Nire were given a free weekend of competitive games, Dr. Crokes beat Austin Stacks in the County Division One League Final, winning on a 2-15 to 0-7 score line.

They won the Senior Football Championship a few weeks back beating Kenmare District Board in the Final and earlier this year they reached the semi finals of the Club Championship, losing out to Austin Stacks in one of only two games competitive games that they have lost this year in the twenty two games played up to now.

Its well documented that as the Senior Football Championship in Waterford was nearing its conclusion, The Nire were not impressing as they can.

But in their last two games they have impressed immensely beating fourteen man Ballinacourty in the County Final 1-17 to 0-8 and then coming from six points down against Carberry Rangers last time out to draw after normal time and beating them by five after extra time.

This would suggest that Benjie Whelan and the Management team are getting their charges to peak around the right time.

This game could well prove to be a close fought battle.

At one end of the field we will have Colm Cooper trying to do what he does best for his side. At the other Conor Gleeson has proven to be a real live wire in the last two games kicking ten points.

The Crokes are likely to know all about Conor Gleeson at this stage and will have come up with a plan to try and stop him doing what he does best.

But for Dr. Crokes to put all their eggs in one basket to stop Conor Gleeson could well prove costly as it would allow others to step up the mark and in their last six games Brian Wall (0-16), Liam Lawlor (1-11), Darren Guiry (1-7), Shane Walsh (1-6), Dylan Guiry (0-8) and Jamie Barron (0-6) have all impressed in front of their opponents goal.

Thomas O’Gorman is one of the toughest man markers in the game and he could well be given the task of shadowing Colm Cooper on the day. Should his twin brother Maurice be passed fit to play he could also pick up on Cooper allowing Thomas to remain at Full Back where he excels.

But like with Conor Gleeson at the other end, the Nire cannot focus too much on Cooper and ignore those around him, as the likes of Tony Brossnan who scored five points last weekend, Ambrose O’Donovan, Johnny Buckley, Daithi Casey, Brian Looney, Michael Burns and Jordan Kiely are all quality players.

The game is set to be an intriguing battle, one that could go right to the wire.

The Kerry side will go into this game as favourites and they will believe they can go on and win for the first time on Saint Patrick’s Day after this game.

But this is a very good Nire side, one that is capable of winning a third Munster Final for Waterford sides in three weekends, continuing on from Gailltir (Camogie) and Lismore (Hurling) in the last two weekends.

Will The Nire win?

I believe history will be created on Sunday afternoon and a Waterford side will win for the competition for the first time and if that was to happen while they would face tough opposition in the New Year, anything can happen, but let’s take one game at a time.

 

Date	Competition	Dr. Crokes	Score	Opposition	Score
20 March	League	Dr. Crokes	3-15	Austin Stacks	3-9
27 March	League	Dr. Crokes	2-13	Kilcummin	0-5
9 April	League	Dr. Crokes	3-21	John Mitchel’s	1-5
16 April	Club Championship	Dr. Crokes	4-17	Kilcummin	0-7
30 April	Club Championship	Dr. Crokes	0-12	Killarney Legion	2-7
15 May	County Senior Championship	Dr. Crokes	5-19	West Kerry	1-9
21 May	County Senior Championship	Dr. Crokes	2-16	Castleisland	3-12
5 June	League	Dr. Crokes	3-21	Kenmare	0-10
12 June	League	Dr. Crokes	1-15	Killarney Legions	0-9
19 June	League	Dr. Crokes	0-13	Kerins O’Rahilly’s	0-9
2 July	League	Dr Crokes	1-13	Dingle	1-13
16 July	League	Dr. Crokes	0-10	Glenbeigh-Glencar	0-11
23 July	League	Dr. Crokes	2-22	Castleisland	1-7
14 August	League	Dr. Crokes	6-28	Templenoe	2-8
4 September	League	Dr. Crokes	1-20	Miltown-Castlemaine	0-9
10 September	Club Championship Semi-Final	Dr. Crokes	1-14	Austin Stacks	2-12
1 October	County Championship Quarter-Final	Dr. Crokes	1-16	Kerins O’Rahilly’s	0-14
9 October	County Championship Semi-Final	Dr. Crokes	1-15	Dingle	0-15
16 October	County Championship Co. Final	Dr. Crokes	2-16	Kenmare District Board	1-12
30 October	Munster Championship Quarter-Finals	Dr. Crokes	1-14	Kilmurray-Ibrickane	0-8
13 November	Munster Championship Semi Finals	Dr. Crokes	1-12	Loughmore-Castleiney	0-9

 

Date	Competition	The Nire	Score	Opposition	Score
12 March	League – Phelan Cup	The Nire	1-9	Ballinameela	3-6
19 March	League – Phelan Cup	The Nire	2-12	Ballinacourty	1-15
16 April	Championship Round 1	The Nire	4-16	Gaultier	1-7
31 May	League – Phelan Cup	The Nire	1-19	Rathgormack	0-7
25 June	League – Phelan Cup	The Nire	0-9	Clashmore-Kinsalebeg	2-13
6 August	League – Phelan Cup	The Nire	Walkover Received	Gaultier	Conceeded
22 August	Championship Round 2	The Nire	2-18	Ardmore	0-9
3 September	Championship Round 3	The Nire	2-13	An Rinn	0-14
9 September	Championship Round 4	The Nire	0-11	Ballinacourty	2-13
14 October	Championship Round 5	The Nire	0-15	Saint Saviours	1-5
21 October	Championship Quarter Final	The Nire	0-13	Rathgormack	0-9
29 October	Championship Semi Final	The Nire	1-10	Kilrossanty	1-4
6 November	Championship County Final	The Nire	1-17	Ballinacourty	0-8
13 November	Munster Championship Semi Final	The Nire	2-15	Carberry Rangers	1-13