Tara Gaels hoping to ambush Munster champions

BOTH Nemo Rangers and Crossmolina know how fraught a trip to Ruislip can be on the club campaign. Both sides experienced the fright of their lives in west London over the past few seasons.

So, if there is any complacency in west Kerry that this weekend is a break away in London, they don’t have to search too far back in the record books to purge it.

Joe Harte is the man trying to develop a plan to ensure Tara Gaels not only frighten An Ghaeltacht, as Brendans and Tír Chonaill Gaels did to more-vaunted opponents, but actually beat them.

Given the time of year, and the fact that the Ruislip surface will have already withstood a hurling match, it promises to be a nervous hour or so for the maiden Munster champions.

Tara have already beaten some of the more famous names in London football this year, including Tír Chonaill Gaels, so they will not quake when faced with the likes of Darragh Ó Sé.

“Everything is going well,” says Harte, who has been with the Crinklewood-based club for the 22 years he has lived in London. Harte left the Leitrim village of Cloone in 1981 and hasn’t looked back since. This is a good opportunity for us. Whether we beat them or not is another thing, but we hope they will be talking about us in Kerry next week.”

Harte has already been encouraged by what he has been reading on the internet, that An Gaeltacht are taking this challenge very seriously.

A fortnight ago, he took his team to Ireland for a couple of games. After beating Kinnegad on Saturday, they ran Lucan close the following day. They are not to be taken lightly.

“This is the biggest game in Tara’s history”, says Harte, who was a member of the last Tara team to win the London title in 1995. “They are going to be some big names we will be playing against. I just hope our lads emerge with credit,” he said.

While a lot will hinge on former Mayo U21 player Pat Rafter and the Hehir brothers from Doonbeg, Tara also have a healthy contingent of second-generation players.

“Taking second-generation players through their ranks is something more London clubs have begun to focus on,” says Harte.

“And there has been a lot of work by the minor board in Tara to ensure that happens,” he says.

In one respect, it might be how GAA will survive in London in the future. If it is then Tara are leading the way. Some clubs still find it a struggle to find players at the start of every season, so developing your own helps solve that problem.

“It is a big weekend for London GAA and it is important that home clubs that come over here get a rattle. As long as they are talking about us in the Gaeltacht on Sunday, I will be happy,” Harte says.