Draw a boon in disguise for Adare hurlers
The first county SHC and SFC double in the club’s history would have created its own problems, officials admitted yesterday.
As a consequence of the football final draw with Monaleen, the hurlers have now been able to prepare thoroughly for the pick of the weekend’s provincial club hurling ties. “We’d have taken the victory, have no doubt about that,” said team official Kevin O’Mahony. “But there might have been a price to pay. It’s not every day a club wins both senior titles and if we had managed to pull it off, you can take it there would have been some celebrations.
“The fact that we didn’t win has meant it was very low key in the village this week which allowed us to get back to the hurling without too much fuss.”
Twelve months ago Adare came to Cork to play Blackrock at the same stage of the provincial championship and only lack of experience prevented them from scoring an historic win.
“We’ve served our apprenticeship now,” said O’Mahony, “and are going to Waterford on Sunday with just one thing in mind: victory. The furore which followed our first title last year is not a factor on this occasion.
“Last year was a complete new venture for us, this time around it’s different. We intend to give Munster a right stab on this occasion and all the players are very keen to win a provincial medal.
“Apart from the honour it would bring to Adare, it would do untold good for the county, particularly as the new senior team manager, David Keane, is from our club. What a boost it would be for him if we managed to win the title.
“Having said that, Mount Sion have numerous Munster campaigns behind them; we have only one. They have something like 20 Waterford titles to their credit and over half of their team are current members of the county team.
“It’s a daunting task for us, but one we are looking forward to. Provided we learned from last year’s experience down in Cork against Blackrock, I would be confident of getting a result on Sunday.
“With 11 dual players it wasn’t possible to get away without injury in last Sunday’s football. We have no serious worries and expect to be picking from a full squad.”
While Mount Sion will start favourites with home advantage, and so many inter-county players available, Adare are not without their sprinkling of Limerick seniors.
Mark Foley, Timmy Houlihan, Conor Fitzgerald and Stephen Lavin have already worn the green jersey while, along with Houlihan and Fitzgerald, Donncha Sheehan, John Paul Healy and Aidan O’Rahilly have won All-Ireland under 21 medals.
“The dual involvement hasn’t been too difficult for us so far,” said O’Mahony. “The players will train twice this week, have a light puck around on Sunday in De La Salle College in Waterford and hopefully will be fully tuned in by the time the big game starts.”
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