Tall order for Stradbally in Clonakilty

Castlehaven v Stradbally

Clonakilty at 2.00
Referee: Derek O’Mahoney (Tipperary)
Clonakilty 1/16 Draw 16/1 Stradbally 15/2

A swift eight day turnaround for Stradbally as they point the bus towards West Cork for Sunday’s Munster semi final. They took plenty of punishment over two hours of football against The Nire and shipped a couple of knocks. Castlehaven meanwhile eased themselves into the Munster campaign with an eleven point win over Drom Broadford two weeks ago and will be well rested for this one.

Seven previous raids into Munster have only yielded one final appearance for the Reds. That came back in 2004 when they came up short against Kilmurry Ibrickane after a replay. Waterford clubs have made the decider on three occasions in the last decade but one win out of the last four outings in the province shows the step up in class that Stradbally must make this weekend. Their defence must hold firm yet again to give them any chance of causing a shock against a confident Castlehaven.

After being reduced to fourteen in the Cork county final, they nicked a win when substitute Shane Nolan punched home a high delivery. They slugged it out with Duhallow for the majority of that game but crushed Drom Broadford last time out and racked up 1-15 in the process. Nolan rattled the rigging for the second game running against the Limerick champions. A couple of future stars are dotted throughout their line-up. Damien Cahalane anchors the heart of the defence at number six while Brian Hurley and Mark Collins up front are on the fringes of Conor Counihan’s plans. Dermot Hurley also offers a strong presence at midfield. Stradbally were the last Déise team to take down a Cork outfit in 2004 when they eliminated Bishopstown but it appears to be an uphill task for the newly crowned Waterford champions to pull off another sizeable scalp on Sunday.