Double blow for Waterford Colleges

WATERFORD Colleges chances of reaching their first Irish Examiner Dr Harty Cup final were dealt a severe blow with the loss of Mark Fives and Patrick Hurney for Sunday’s semi-final against champions St Colman’s at Clonmel (2pm).

Fives broke his collar bone playing with his school recently, while Hurney is serving a suspension carried over from 2003.

Team official John Heneghan said both players were in excellent form and will be hard to replace. “We couldn’t have asked for stiffer opposition than the champions,” said John.

“This is completely new to our lads. It’s where we want to be. Waterford players need to play at this level in order to compete with other counties. Harty Cup hurling lifts players.”

“Two years ago we decided to go this route. We need this standard of hurling and so far we have played five games in the Harty and so far so good. Colman’s know what its all about at this level and we’ll need a good start to be in with a chance”.

The champions, chasing their fourth title in a row, have no injury worries, and start favourites. While Colman’s don’t have any star players this season, they have a team that doesn’t know the meaning of defeat. They came back from four points down to draw with Cashel in round one, lost an eight point lead against Borrisoleigh in the quarter-final and still hung on to win.

Team official Donal O’Connell said the strength of the team is their work ethic. “They work extremely hard for each other and there is a huge incentive to make it four-in-a-row. Only one of our team has a Harty Cup medal, our captain Eamon Condon. It’s a first semi-final appearance for the rest of the players but the potential is there to reach the final”.

If Colman’s are to remain on course, they must put the shackles on Mark O’Gorman and Brian Bannon. Both players have an eye for goals, scoring 2-9 and 3-2, respectively, in a recent outing against Críost Rí.

However they will find themselves up against a far better defence this time and will earn their scores off goalkeeper Colm O’Keeffe, full-back Stephen Russell and centre-back Mark O’Connor.

Eamon Condon at midfield could well be the difference. He’s been through it all for the last two successful campaigns and that kind of experience will be invaluable in what promises to be a close contest.