May Edition 2005
 
 
 
 

 

Warwickshire GAA Update
By Pat Barry

Warwickshire Hurlers To Compete in Nicky Rackard Cup

The Warwickshire Hurling team is to take part in the inaugural Nicky Rackard Cup competition, paired with London, Monaghan and Longford in Group 3C.

The Cup is named after Nicky Rackard (1922-1976), the power-house full forward in Wexford teams of the 1950’s, who inspired his county to All Ireland glory, along with his 2 brothers Bobby & Billy, Nick O`Donnell, Art Foley, Hopper McGrath, Ned Wheeler, Padge Kehoe and the other greats of that team.

To appreciate the impact made on the game of hurling by Nicky Rackard and his team-mates, try to get a copy of “The Greatest Hurling Decade” by Nicholas Furlong. It is a great honour for Warwickshire’s application to compete in this competition to have been accepted. 

This represents a major step forward for hurling in Warwickshire and gives our players a chance to build on the advances made at underage and club level in recent years.

The Nicky Rackard Cup is part of the restructure of hurling competitions announced last year and represents Tier 3 of the All Ireland structure (Tier 2 is the Christy Ring Cup and Tier 1 remains the Liam McCarthy Cup, awarded to the All Ireland Senior Champions).

To put the supporters of Cork, Kilkenny and Tipperary at ease, their counties will not be meeting Warwickshire at any stage of the competition. What it will mean is that counties ranked at similar levels will be able to compete with a realistic chance of winning.

Warwickshire will be up against it to win their group, but it is certainly not beyond them to win matches and they can take a lead from the strong performances of John Mitchels in recent years at club level. The panel has been training for some months and will be quietly confident of doing themselves justice when they take the field.

All three of Warwickshire’s opponents compete in the National Hurling League and will have the advantage of more regular competitive match practice, but Warwickshire’s players will have a spirit and will to win to match any of their competitors.

Warwickshire’s first match of the competition is set for Saturday June 18th, their opposition being Monaghan, at a Monaghan venue.  In 1999 the two counties met in the All Ireland junior hurling semi
final at Pairc Na h’Eireann, with Monaghan winning on a scoreline of 4:9 to 3:3. Both teams will be significantly different from when they met in 1999 and although this is an away match I think that Warwickshire have a better chance of reversing the result this time.

On June 25th Warwickshire meet Longford at Pairc Na h’Eireann in a game that will be eagerly anticipated. Hopefully Warwickshire will have done well the previous Saturday and will have something to build on against their Leinster opponents.

The final tie of the group stages for Warwickshire will take place on July 9th against London. The match is set for a London venue in the Croke Park press release, although it is thought that London may already have agreed to concede home venue in the tie. London would be regarded as the strongest of the teams in this group, having competed in the Ulster Senior Championship in recent years, albeit without success.

If Warwickshire win their group they will meet opposition from another group in a semi final on August 6th, with the final set for Croke Park on August 21st. There are a number of talented hurlers turning out for teams in Warwickshire at present and they are capable of making an impact in this competition.

Football League Round - Up

Senior Football League
Recent Results
St Marys 3:11 Four Masters 0:12
St Barnabas 2:3 John Mitchels 3:11
St Finbarrs 0:8 Roger Casements 1:9
Erin Go Bragh 1:2 Sean McDermotts 2:9
Erin Go Bragh 1:9 St Marys 2:4
Roger Casements 0:8 Sean McDermotts 1:9
St Barnabas 2:6 Four Masters 3:7
John Mitchels 0:11 Sean McDermotts 1:7
Four Masters 1:6 Erin Go Bragh 2:12
St Finbarrs 2:8 St Barnabas 2:16
Roger Casements 1:7 Erin Go Bragh 3:12
Four Masters 2:14 St Finbarrs 1:10 

With the Senior League a month and a half old we can start to look at form. After early successes against St Barnabas, Erin Go Bragh and Roger Casements, early pace setters Sean McDermotts tasted defeat for the first time this year in an exciting game with their old rivals John Mitchels.

Short of a few of their usual team, Sean McDermotts held Mitchels to a point in the first 30 minutes, while playing against a strong breeze. They were unable to take advantage of the elements in the second half, despite finding the net for a goal. The sides were level as the game entered its final 10 minutes, but there was plenty of running in Mitchels who snatched a point which turned out to be the winner.

In the remaining minutes the match was end to end, both teams spurning chances. It seemed that the game was truly over when Mitchels were awarded a penalty as time was up, but the foul was accompanied by a “disagreement” between some of the players. After order had been restored the referee cancelled the penalty and the game restarted with the ball being thrown in.

The indiscipline almost cost Mitchels the game as from this incident McDermotts gained possession and won a free 40 metres from goal on the sideline. It was deep into injury time as the kick floated narrowly wide and with the umpires signal, the referee whistled for time.  

John Mitchels, Sean McDermotts along with Erin Go Bragh and St Marys have all started well, with only one defeat. Four Masters have also shown good early form and are proving hard to beat.

Champions Roger Casements have started slowly, but will undoubtedly move up a few gears as championship time arrives. St Barnabas are also a bit ‘hit and miss’ at the moment, but are capable of making an impact when required, as are the new look St Finbarrs team who are improving steadily match by match.

Intermediate Football League
Recent Results
Naomh Padraig 3:8 John Mitchels 5:8
Roger Casements 2:7 The Gaels 1:13
Sons of Erin 1:6 St Brendans 1:4
Roger Casements 2:7 Sean McDermotts 0:16
Erin Go Bragh 1:2 St Brendans 3:9
O’Rahillys 3:4 The Gaels 1:13
John Mitchels 1:12 The Gaels 3:4
Sean McDermotts 1:16 O`Rahillys 0:3
St Brendans 2:11 Naomh Padraig 0:8
Roger Casements 0:12 Erin Go Bragh 0:4

John Mitchels appear to be the form team in the Intermediate League, which is also in its early stages.
Most recently they survived the concession of 3 second half goals in the space of 5 minutes, to come out on top against The Gaels from Rugby, by a margin of 2 points in an exciting match.
Despite their setback against Mitchels, The Gaels look likely to challenge for honours this year, having taken the scalps of O’Rahillys, Roger Casements and Sons of Erin to date.

St Brendans are starting to find their feet at this grade as well and along with ORahillys, Naomh Padraig and Sons Of Erin, they will add a great deal of interest to Intermediate competitions this year.
We should not forget Roger Casements, Sean McDermotts and Erin Go Bragh who field their 2nd teams in this league and will include a mixture of experienced veterans and young hopefuls who could become the stars of tomorrow.

It appears that both Gloucestershire teams, Western Gaels (Bristol) and St Colmcilles (Cardiff) will be competing in the senior league this year and not the imtermediate league as was previously the case.
 


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