2014 title favourites and reigning champions Ballinacourty are top of grid in another three legged race for the Conway Cup. They have collected silverware three times from five final appearances since 2007. The main motivation this time is to claim back to back crowns for only the second occasion in the history of the club. The team of 1979 were the first to achieve that feat.
Ballinacourty’s average winning margin in 2013 stood at eleven points. With the style of true champions, they won all nine matches. Only An Rinn came within a kick of the ball in the first round. They cracked home 15 goals in the process. That’s the ground that the chasing pack have to make up.
Their hunger all over the final ultimately overwhelmed Stradbally in the county final. Hunger can be measured in terms of the breaking ball they scavenged during the first half. Retaining that appetite for more work and more silverware is key to their challenge. In 2012, their title defence floundered with an opening round loss to Rathgormack and spluttered along until the semi final when Stradbally put them out of their misery. With only Stephen Enright and Shane Briggs tied up with inter county commitments, it frees up the Hurneys and Mark Ferncombe to focus fully on the retention task.
The Reds will rise again. They won all seven games before Ballinacourty devoured them at midfield and pounced on the knock suffered by Michael Walsh. Until the county final, they were putting up twenty points per game. Shane Ahearne gave the number one individual performance of last year’s championship by kicking 12 points including nine from play. He moves in and out from full forward for Waterford and like the team in general, really pushed on in the latter rounds of the league. Niall Carew revealed that he is dropping hints to Paul Earley about a call-up to the International Rules.
Injuries caught up with The Nire in last season’s semi final. By half time, they trailed by eleven points as Ballinacourty laid siege to Tom Wall’s goal. They will hope to reach the knock out rounds with all of their marquee men intact.
Ardmore broke the mould in 2007 by making a county final. You need to go back as far as Rathgormack’s win in 1999 for the last time a club from outside the big three took home the Conway Cup. Kilrossanty, Clashmore and An Rinn comprise the hunters this year. Kilrossanty struggled to field at full strength for majority of the 2013 campaign. When they assembled their forces, they played an end to end game of ball with The Nire. It was easily the highlight of last year's championship. The green and gold start this season minus star striker Paul Whyte. He plastered 1-6 in that memorable quarter final fixture.
After falling at the quarter final fence for three years in a row, An Rinn reached the semi final stages last year. It may be an experience they would rather forget. Minus a number of key men, including creative influence Donie Breathnach, Stradbally inflicted a painful 3-18 to 1-3 loss. They only scored two goals in championship 2013.
Clashmore’s challenge petered out against An Rinn last September. They won four out of their five group games beforehand. The injury suffered by Brian O’Halloran hindered them in the last eight. Their forward figures from 2013 also reveal a disappointing average of around ten points per game. Despite this, they can be regarded as consistent championship performers at this stage and reached the semis in 2012.
Ardmore and Rathgormack are undertaking renovation work but will push hard for the quarter finals after finishing fifth in their respective groups last time around. The three Eastern challengers have been drawn in Group 2 with these derby clashes likely to make all the difference between Ballinameela join them and aim for another season of stability after making the last eight in their first year back in the top flight.
Group 1 looks evenly balanced with Ballinacourty the only cast iron quarter final certainties. Rathgormack and Ardmore were left out last time but will surely improve on disappointing campaigns. Stradbally and The Nire will emerge from Group 2. Any two from the other four teams could make the cut in a race that is likely to come down to the final round.
What sort of appetite is out there for these group games? “It is very noticeable that interest in the league section games of the senior football championship is at an all time low,” county secretary Timmy O’Keeffe wrote in his report to the 2013 convention. “As can be seen in the analysis of the senior football championship gate receipts further on in this booklet, of the 23 games shown at 8 different venues, 19 of them recorded a gate receipt of €520 or less. These games, played at neutral venues, not alone are not attracting the neutral supporter, they are not even attracting supporters from either club!”
With four from six moving forward to the quarter finals, the top teams can time their run for the back end of the championship. Often the business of qualification is settled before the concluding rounds. On last year’s evidence, the gap between top and bottom is widening. 9 of the 30 group games resulted in double digit wins. The average margin of victory stood at almost seven points. The numbers in the stand this weekend will clearly show the interest levels.
With the county final provisionally pencilled in for October 19, it will take another six months before this dozen are sorted out. The quarter finals will be held in late August and by that stage, the contenders will be jostling for position. Providing that they stay injury-free and maintain their 2013 levels of work ethic, Ballinacourty tick all the boxes from back to front to emulate that seventies show.
Conway Cup Odds
Ballinacourty 13/8
Stradbally 5/2
The Nire 5/2
Kilrossanty 13/2
An Rinn 14/1
Clashmore 14/1
De La Salle 33/1
Rathgormack 40/1
Ardmore 40/1
Gaultier 66/1
St Saviours 66/1
Ballinameela 80/1
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