This article is from page 101 of the 2009-05-12 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 101 JPG
LIFFORD B asked their big broth- ers in the A set-up for a pre-season friendly last August — the story goes that the A team declined the invita- tion, but when they then went knock- ing on Rineanna Rovers’ door they were met with a more positive re- sponse.
Rineanna didn’t bring their strong- est side to the Fair Green for that friendly, but they fielded a team as they used it as an exercise to free the cobwebs after a summer of inactiv- ity.
Rineannna were taken aback by what greeted them — Second Divi- sion Lifford B had a huge squad out and beat their Premier Division op- ponents. The game itself will have no bearing on Saturday’s cup final, apart from the fact that Rineanna are certainly taking nothing for granted.
“You look at it,” says Rineanna Rov- ers manager Colm Ryan “and you see a Premier team against a First Divi- sion team. That makes us favourites in a lot of people’s eyes, but we’re looking on this as a 50/50 game. They’ve had some huge scalps along the way — Lifford A in the semi-final, Newmarket Celtic in the quarter-fi- nal and Mountshannon Celtic before that. We’re not taking them lightly, they’ ll be very confident coming into 1d aComeeeDoatemr-00(6 mI Mere] UNG mxO Mss 10 0(o) MAUR Val adds Ryan.
It’s not a case of Ryan talking up the Opposition, more a case of treading carefully as Rineanna Rovers stand on the brink of history. For years they’ve laboured in the shadows of illustrious neighbours — around them
Bunratty, Newtown and Newmar- ket Celtic have won league and cup titles, Rineanna have been close but the eternal bridesmaids.
“Last year in my first year as man- ager we reached the semi-final and went down 2-1 when Rock Rovers got a very late goal. Five of the squad were on the 1999 team that reached the final. They were Hugh Kelly, Pa Fahy, Brian Kelly, Declan Devitt and John Earls. They’ve been around a long time with the club and given great service. It’s been a long road back to the cup final for them.
“This year we’ve done well in cup competitions. We got to the last 16
of the Munster Junior Cup where we went down to Fairview Rangers by a goal, while the previous round we had a great win against Gran- ville. Hopefully that good cup form will continue for another day,” adds Raven
Ryan and everyone associated with the club are also hoping that front- line players like Stephen and Enda Kelly, Kieran Devitt and Daithi O’Connell will be able to play, even though they’re involved in Saturday’s senior hurling championship clash between Newmarket-on-Fergus and Wolfe Tones.
“There’s be a bit of a hullaba-
loo about the hurlers, but we can’t be worried about that,’ says Rayn. “When they’ve been available for training they’ve been with us. We have a squad of 20 players and hope- fully we will be ok. We have to con- centrate on the game.
“It’s going to be a great day. Being in a cup final is something to enjoy and hopefully we will come out on top. It’s going to be hard though.”
Cup finals generally are.