SHC Final Preview... It’s a funny old game but Trim can claim crown

SHC Final Preview... It’s a funny old game but Trim can claim crown

JIMMY GEOGHEGAN

Don't you just love it. The unpredictability of sport that is. The way it can take you down unexpected tracks and trails. Alex Ferguson put it succinctly when he said: 'Football, blood hell'. If he had followed the Meath SHC this year he might have said: 'Hurling, bloody hell' and with justification.

After the opening four games of this year's championship the chances of Trim and Ratoath ending up playing in the final looked an outside bet at best if not downright remote.

By that stage Trim had won three, drawn one and were motoring nicely towards securing a place in the semi-finals. It was all very different for Ratoath. After four games they had just three points, one victory. More than that they had looked out of sorts and were struggling badly to stay in the race.

As it turned out they ended up losing three games (from the five played) but they remained in contention - just about relying on what they had done and other results. They squeezed through to the knock-out phase on scoring difference ahead of Na Fianna and got back on track with a quarter-final win over Killyon, without playing that well. Now here they are on the cusp of claiming the big prize.

The fact that a team can lose three games (and win just one in their group) yet reach a final and perhaps go on to win the coveted trophy itself raises serious issues about the competition. Surely it seriously undermines the competitive nature of that championship - but that's an issue for another day.

The plain facts are Ratoath and Trim are in this year's final and Jimmy Canty's side have what it takes to go on and win another title.

They can do so especially if the team can tap into its rich and undoubtedly deep reservoir of talent and experience - although Sunday's showdown is sure to be close. Perhaps it might even be as gripping, as entertaining a contest as it when these two teams met in the 2020 SHC final (which of course wasn't played until early last year).

This year the SHC is once again sponsored by CJ Murtagh who won nine SHC medals with Trim. He's a hurling man through and through. Naturally he would want to see the men in Red win again - and they can do just that.

This Trim team has developed over the years an intense dislike of losing. The players within the collective framework are not bowed down by setbacks. When they go behind in games they don't sink into the undergrowth; they become more determined, more fired up.

Their ranks are manned by players some of whom are at the foothills of their careers such as James Murray, Joey Cole and Mikey Cole. Alongside them in the trenches there's more experienced campaigners including James Toher, Dimmy Higgins, James Andrews and Alan Douglas. It all makes for a potent cocktail.

Between the young and the not-so-young Trim are capable of whipping up quite a storm - especially when they are on their game; in full flow. They showed some of that awesome power when they defeated Ratoath, 4-13 to 0-18, in the group stages with Murray scoring 3-5. They won despite having two players sent off, although Ratoath also had a player dismissed.

Trim, who lets not forget won the A HL Div 1 title, shipped one defeat in the championship to-date against Kiltale but they were already through to the semi-finals. Significantly also they finished the league phase of the championship with a better scoring difference than table-toppers Kiltale; plus 36 compared to plus 26.

In the semi-final over Kildalkey Trim showed a different side to their nature. Their gritter, more resilient side. The reigning champions pushed Trim to the limit yet they stayed steadfast in defence while all the time working enough scores to stay one step ahead, many of those scores top notch efforts from distance. It was a victory that showed their character. That absolute distaste for losing and need for victory was yet again found within the Reds' ranks.

Yet some aspects that game should concern Trim. Goalkeeper Charlie Ennis brought off a number of excellent saves. The fact he needed to do that hints at certain vulnerability; something Ratoath will be well capable of exploiting until the defensive battlements are firmly established.

If Trim can whip up a storm so can Ratoath - they just haven't done it often enough this year. They have a very formidable forward division. If those forwards get a regular supply of ammunition on Sunday they will take some stopping. Against Kiltale Gavin McGowan was a tour de force, firing over six super points. Unstoppable. He could be a key player for them again. The Ratoath attackers like to move around, change sides. At their best they ask seriously hard questions of the opposition defences - as they demonstrated in that Kiltale game.

The problem for Ratoath is that they haven't been able to tap into their true form often enough this year. That leaves us with an intriguing question. Was their barnstorming display over Kiltale in the semi-finals a one-off or have they now, at last, found their true form?

With players like Darragh Kelly, the indomitable Podge O'Hanrahan, Conor McGill, Daithi McGowan, Gavin McGowan and Cian Rogers, Ratoath have the troops to win the Jubilee Cup, no doubt. They have a team jam-packed with talented hurlers, certainly enough to go all the way and win their first SHC crown in 59 years.

Sunday's final promises to be a real humdinger, a little classic perhaps. However, Trim - doughty, gritty, hard-working, talented - Trim, the team who hate losing, can carve out a victory and claim their 28th senior crown.