For a club only formed in 1981 to be contesting their second Leinster final is a huge achievement for Garrycastle. They may not have as many recogniseable names as their opponents but any team that has Dessie Dolan can’t be taken lightly. The 2004 All Star winner has contributed 1-34 so far this season with fourteen of them coming from placed balls.
The 2009 Leinster runners up have seven players thirty or over starting on Sunday. This experience could be crucial, also the fact that eleven of their starting line up also started in the 2009 Leinster final, should mean they are not over awed by the occasion. Their manager Anthony Cunningham has been here before as both a player and manager. He won a provincial title with St. Brigid (Roscommon) back in 2006. He guided the Galway U-21 hurlers to All Ireland success in September and will take over the counties senior team once Garrycastle’s campaign comes to an end. They face an up hill battle on Sunday but one advantage they have is their aerial presence. Both O’ Donoghue and O’ Shaughnessy are well over six foot and if utilized properly they could cause St. Brigids problems.
St. Brigid’s not surprisingly go in to this match as clear favourites. They came through what many described as the game of the year in the semi final. Beating a strong Portlaois side after extra time, thanks in no small way to the contribution of centre forward Paddy Andrews, who scored 1-04 on the day. Andrews has been a vital member of the team all year scoring a massive 3-25 from play in Brigid’s nine games. All this from a man who wasn’t considered good enough to be part of Dublin’s All Ireland winning panel.
Team captain Shane Supple is another interesting character, this is his first year back playing Gaelic football having spent the last number of years in the UK playing professional soccer with Ipswitch, Falkirk and Oldham Athletic. The talented goalkeeper won an FA Youth cup in 2005 and represented Ireland at under 21 level. However he decided to turn his back on all of that to come home and try to achieve his dream of playing for Dublin. With five clean sheets and some excellent performances that dream might soon become a reality.
St. Brigids have stars throughout the field in Ken Darcy, John O’ Loughlin (Laois) not to mention 2011 All Ireland winner Barry Cahaill and should have too much for Garrycastle.
Verdict : St Brigids
Paul Jenkins for Blog GAA BEO
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