Craughwell slight favourites for intriguing hurling showdown against Sarsfields

IF someone had predicted last April that Sarsfields and Craughwell would be contesting this year’s county senior hurling final, they’d have been laughed out of town, but now in the fading light of November the curious unpredictability of sport has brought about this unexpected conclusion to the championship.

Two country teams teeming with skilled stickmen should make for a gripping encounter at Kenny Park, Athenry on Sunday (2.30) – confidence won’t be lacking in either camp after big scalps were claimed in the semi-final battles.

Craughwell’s 1-20 to 0-22 victory over St. Thomas’ on the last Sunday of October set the scene for a day of shocks in Athenry, with Sarsfields overcoming a nervy start to ward off the challenge of holders and favourites Gort by 0-21 to 0-17.

There was though nothing fluky about either success and although placed balls made up large chunks of both scorelines, the forward panache of Craughwell and Sarsfields was one of the abiding memories from the semi-final double bill.

The hunger barometers in either camp could not be reading any higher. Craughwell have to go back to the start of The Economic War in 1932 for their last county final appearance, while it’s now 17 years since Sarsfields last Galway success in 1997 when they beat Clarinbridge.

Sarsfields were the dream club team of the 1990s, being the first Galway club to win back-to-back All-Ireland titles in ’93 and ’94, but as current selector Francis Madden puts it: “This team want to leave their own mark.”

“The ‘90s was a wonderful era for Sarsfields but we have a team now that want to make their own bit of history. We haven’t made the knock-out stages of the championship since 2005 so I suppose, a bit like Craughwell, this is a big opportunity for us,” said Francis Madden.

Injury though has dealt a cruel blow to Sarsfields with the loss of influential midfielder Thomas Spellman with a cruciate injury that he suffered in the second half of their semi-final victory against Gort.

“The loss of Thomas is a big blow to the team but also to himself personally. The injury was only confirmed with the scan on the Friday after the match and it was awful news for him but now we just have to get on with it.

“All year we’ve had a lot of injury problems – we’ve used 24 players so far in the championship – and we have a lot of players pushing to get into the starting fifteen,” said Madden.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.