Carbery Rangers ready for the final assault

PEOPLE in West Cork will tell you there is no place like it on earth, a haven for holidaymakers and sightseers.

However, this Easter it might not be so tranquil, especially if you stumble into Rosscarbery as the locals hope the All-Ireland IFC club trophy will be on parade.

Monday is a huge day for Carbery Rangers as they head to Portlaoise to lock horns with Tyrone giants Pomeroy Plunketts.

It is the culmination of many years of hard slog, in particular the result of 24 months of tough grind.

In November 2003, they were crowned Cork county junior champions; a year later they heartbreakingly lost the intermediate final to Nemo Rangers and while many clubs might have given up, this bunch just swallowed the bitter pill and kept going.

“Naturally the night after the match we felt down,” said club PRO and selector Denis Calnan.

“But, then when we pulled off a great win against Dingle in the Munster Club championship we were back on the road and determined to continue in that winning mode.”

Great credit indeed to a parish that also encompasses Lisavaird and Reenascreena, and a club growing in strength since its foundation in 1887.

Hurling is getting back on the map there too, with underage teams up to the U14 grade this year, but football is THE game. These lads have come up through the ranks, winning their first (and only) U21AFC West Cork title in 1995 a major stepping stone in greater things to come.

“We had lots of U12, U14 and U16 success going back 10 or 15 years. It is more or less the same bunch of lads that have brought this with them,” said Calnan.

While he and his fellow mentors Michael Paul Hicks and Jeff Murphy will be praying key attacker John Hayes comes through tomorrow’s Munster U21 tie against Clare unscathed, everybody is eagerly looking forward to the contest.

One of the squad’s greatest assets is the partnership of Kevin McMahon and Michael O’Sullivan at centre field. In their semi-final triumph over Western Gaels this was a hard-working and dominant combination.

“Certainly, these guys are our better known names because of their intercounty involvement, but we pride ourselves in all our players. Lads like Kevin Santry in goal, who is over 40, and Eugene Murphy.

So, what of Pomeroy? “We saw their semi-final win on video. They beat Wolfe Tones by a last-minute goal. They defeated us in the junior final last year, so that is a good yardstick for us,” he said.

With the first round of the Cork County IFC looming on April 10, no doubt they would love to enter the fray as All-Ireland champions.

Up north, Pomeroy club secretary Michael Harvey is aware of the ability of the West Cork men.

“I feel the opposition has the advantage. We understand they are an absolutely fabulous team. We don’t have any county players, but that doesn’t mean they are not county standard,” he says.

“Lady Luck has shone on us before when we were very lucky to beat Wolfe Tones in the dying moments. We will be happy if we get similar good fortune on Monday,” he says.