Ardmore Good Enough To Win Munster Crown

A short few years ago, if a person were to write about a Waterford side appearing in a Munster Junior or Intermediate Club Hurling Final, the obvious thing to say while hoping that the Waterford side would win would be that Waterford’s overall record in the competition was not the best.

Thankfully heading into the latter days of 2017 we can no longer say something like this.

Ballysaggart and Modeligo in the Junior grades as well as Cappoquin in the Intermediate grade have all returned from Mallow in recent years with a Munster Club Championship added to their Roll of Honour, and have brought great pride to the county in doing so after they had earlier collected Divisional and County honours, and this weekend another club from the Western Division in Waterford will be hoping to capture another Provincial Crown.

12 months ago Ardmore were relegated from the Intermediate ranks, and straight away the side who had played in the senior grade just a few years earlier were tipped to go straight back up to the intermediate grade at the first time of asking.

But nobody in Ardmore would have said that this was a foregone conclusion and neither would anyone that follows the G.A.A. scene in Waterford.

The bookies would have made the Round Tower Club side favourites, but the reason why so many would have said they were a certainty to go back up at the first time of asking was that the Junior and Intermediate grades in the west of the county in recent years have become ultra competitive, with any side able to beat any other side on a given day, and even in the Division Hurling League where the Junior sides are given a chance to play against the Intermediate sides, they are more than able to hold their own.

The Junior grade in West Waterford in addition to Ardmore had sides like Tourin who were relegated to this grade 12 months before Ardmore and who appeared in the 2016 divisional final, Saint Mary’s who had won the divisional finals in 2015 and 2016 but lost out in the county final on both occasions and Colligan who were also challenging in recent years, while Kilrossanty and the Geraldines were also expected to be there or there about ready to pounce on any slip ups by those perceived to be somewhat stronger.

As expected Ardmore were pushed hard in the west of the county this year. It is possibly fair to say that their toughest games this year were while playing in the divisional competition. They were pushed all the way by Saint Mary’s in the Western Final but things a little too easy in the County Final against Ballydurn, and then in the Munster Championship against first Bodyke from Clare who they beat 5-22 to 1-8 and then against Saint Patrick’s from Limerick in the semi final who they beat 4-20 to 0-11.

Their opponents for this game Ballybacon/Grange from South Tipperary are new to this level of hurling, having won their first ever Adult County Final recently beating Toomevara in the Premier County Championship decider.

Since then they have beaten Kenmare from Kerry all to easily on a 5-24 to 1-4 score line, but were pushed hard in their recent semi final win over Cork side Saint Catherine’s who they beat 1-11 to 0-9.

While this year’s Junior Hurling County Final win was the first for Ballybacon/Grange they are still an experienced outfit reaching last year’s County Final but lost out to Kiladangan.

Former Tipperary goalkeeper Brendan Cummins is their best known player and the Ardmore player’s goals might be hard to get past him than they scored so far this year so will be more than happy if the sliotar goes over the head of Brendan Cummins on a regular basis over the hour.

They are by no means a one man team however and will be looking to the likes of Donal O’Regan the scorer of a goal against Saint Catherine’s last time out, Michael O’Sullivan, Aaron Lonergan, Colin O’Gorman, Michael Barlow and Craig Carrigan.

The South Tipperary side will know all about Ardmore’s former inter county players Declan and Seamus Prendergast and won’t need telling what damage they can do at either end of the field.

They will also know that Ardmore are not reliant on the Prendergast brothers as there is a nice blend of youth and experience throughout the side, in the like of the Hennessey’s, the Garland’s, the Keating’s, the Power’s, James Kennedy, Eoin Conway and Kenny Murphy.

This is a game that supporters of both clubs and indeed supporters in both counties will not want to see the other side winning and the game can be won or lost on something small.

Both sides will know that if they can play to their full potential that victories could well be theirs.

However there can only be one winner, and Ardmore having playing in the Munster Intermediate Championship a few years back and with them getting better and better since they won their divisional title, clocking up very impressive results along the way get the nod to return from Mallow with the Laurels on Sunday evening.