Ha to laugh all the way to the bank

Curraha hot favourites to lift Peter McDermott Cup

Seldom has a team prepared for a major county final as hotly tipped to emerge with the silverware as Curraha are ahead of Friday’s JFC showdown with Ballinlough at Simonstown.

Based on what a sample of football followers around the county are saying there will only be one set of ribbons adorning the Peter McDermott Cup after all the action is over – the Ha’s green and gold.

Naturally the east Meath outfit will want to play down, what their full-back Conor O’Farrell described as that “outside noise” but there are sound, undeniable reasonings for believing that the big groundswell of opinion in their favour is justified.

There is, for a start, the fact that the Curraha team contains a cohort of players who are both experienced and accomplished performers such as James McEntee, Jack O’Connor, Neil Shortall, Niall McLarnon, Diarmuid Moriarty - to name just a few.

Then there is the fact that just two years ago Curraha were a senior team, playing against the best in the county with, more or less, the same group of players as they have now.

There is also the reality that on their way to the JFC decider the team jointly and adroitly, managed by Gavin Coyle and Stephen Morgan, appears to have got progressively better as the campaign has gone on.It was a campaign that started with a 2-12 to 1-15 draw against St Vincent’s and went on to include victories over St Brigid’s and most impressively a 7-17 to 1-13 trouncing of Carnaross in the last group game with Brian Joyce bagging 2-1 that day while O’Connor, Moriarty, Andrew Coyle, Eoghan Burke and David Coyle also found the net. Carnaross didn’t stand a chance.

Just to underline and highlight their ability to create and take scores Curraha followed that up by inflicting another heavy defeat on opponents, this time Slane in the semi-final, 4-17 to 1-7. Semi-finals are more often than not close affairs. Not when Curraha are involved in the form they are in right now.

Of course Ballinlough will be more than happy to let Curraha take all the pre-final plaudits while going about their own preparations with a quiet, yet understated, determined focus.

Underdogs have that advantage but while their supporters, players and management might point to Curraha’s power and experience the ‘Lough will also quietly believe, with some justification also, they can cause an upset.

They too have a group of players who can have a major influence on a game such as Darren O’Higgins, Oisin McDermott, Daire Shine, Tom Shine, Michael Geraghty.

Like Curraha, Andy McGovern’s team have yet to taste defeat. They showed consistency and resilience in equal measure in topping the group with a sequence of wins that included a 0-16 to-12 victory over local rivals Moylagh.

In the picturesque surrounding of Oldcastle’s Millbrook ground in August, the Ballinlough players were asked serious questions in that game but they showed the resolve and ability to find a way to dig out the victory, displaying considerable character in the process. Nobber and St Mary’s were also overcome with relative comfort.

It was onto the last four and in their 1-18 to 1-15 victory over St Vincent’s, Ballinlough really showed their resolve to end a dispiriting sequence of defeats that included four semi-finals defeats in the last five years. What will concern them will be the way they only won by three despite leading 1-17 to 0-7 at the end of the third quarter.

That victory by Ballinlough over a more fancied opponent will not be lost on Curraha who are likely to approach Friday’s showdown with all the caution that should be observed before disturbing a wasp’s nest.

Such caution is certainly justified despite that late collapse but Curraha should still have enough quality, experience and firepower to chalk up the win so many GAA observers in the county expect them to achieve.

The ‘Ha to win.