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*Fergal Lynch.
FORMER CLARE hurler, Fergal Lynch believes a win for Éire Óg’s senior hurlers would be invaluable in boosting the promotion of hurling in the county town.
Looking ahead to Sunday’s final, the 2013 All-Ireland winner was of the view both sides were fully deserving to be in the decider. “Looking at Éire Óg they had a shaky start and were rusty against Kilmaley in the opening round and lost, they’ve slowly progressed since and that came with hurling, they didn’t have full panel with football and inter-county commitments but they have progressed to be the team with the most gains this year.
“Ballyea have been topsy turvy all year, some of their players haven’t peaked but they are still getting great results, they have a wide spread of different scorers, the return of Gary Brennan will be a huge asset to them. Both the teams in the final are deserving of being there based on the progression they have shown and the teams they have beaten on the way, it is no fluke that the two teams have made it to the final,” Lynch said.
Both sides operate with different styles of play, the current Galway U20 hurling coach noted. “From watching the style of game that Ballyea do and how Éire Óg play, Éire Óg seem to work the ball really well through the lines and Ballyea seem to be more direct, they focus on getting it to Tony Kelly. When Ballyea played Clooney/Quin in the quarter-final, Tony started at centre forward and a lot of space was left around him which he punished, Éire Óg won’t leave much space around him, when the space is closed down he drifts to the middle of the field and their whole game is to create as much space as they can for Tony, everyone else is working around him”.
He added, “Éire Óg are a ball-playing team, Matt Shannon has a great job done over the last few years, they focus on getting the ball to their scorers, the key players that Éire Óg have in David Reidy and Shane O’Donnell are really stepping up to the plate and then the players that haven’t stood out in previous years like Gavin Cooney, Tom Downes and David McNamara are going very well and have really added to Éire Óg’s team structure. For me, Ballyea’s main man over the last three to four games has been Pearse Lillis, he makes them tick around the middle, he has an unorthodox style but he is well able to get around the pitch, he is a top consistent performer, he is tactically astute and knows what to do with the ball. It’s going to be a very enticing affair and it’s a very hard one to call”.
Éire Óg’s constant improvement all championship will be sufficient to see them progress, Fergal felt. “I fancy Éire Óg because they are on an upward trajectory since the game they were beaten by Kilmaley, they’ve improved every single day. If it’s a dry day, I think they will sneak it by a point or two. It would be nice to see a new name on the Canon Hamilton this year, with the population of Ennis, it’s our largest town it would be great promotion for hurling in the town and for Clare if they were to win and hopefully it would help develop some more players for Brian Lohan”.
