Birr hopeful on county stars for decider

BIRR are confident of being able to call on the services of county players Stephen Brown and Gary Hanniffy for their AIB Leinster club hurling final against Ballyboden-St. Enda’s in Tullamore on Sunday week.

Brown was stretchered off after 10 minutes in the semi-final game against holders Ballyhale suffering from concussion and was detained in hospital overnight as a precaution. Hanniffy, one of the stars of their victory, went into the game with a bandaged wrist after having had 10 stitches inserted in a wound picked up in training two weeks ago, and experienced serious discomfort over the last quarter. However, he was able to finish the game and his fitness is not in doubt.

Brian Whelahan, the Birr captain, recognised that the final will be given an added spice by the fact that the Dublin side are jointly coached by Offalymen,Vincent Teehan and Liam Hogan, both of whom he hurled against. They are from the Coolderry club, with Hogan a member of the All-Ireland winning squad of 1981 and Teehan a three-times Leinster medal holder in 1988-‘89-1990.

“There’d be a lot of club rivalry there. They’ll have their homework done on us, no doubt,’’ he commented. “I think the makings of them this year was the Wexford boys going up to them. They look a very all-round strong team.”

What it amounts to in his view is that they will face ‘a huge task’ in the final, stressing the value of Dublin footballer (and former county hurler) Conal Keaney. “A few years ago he was the up and coming young hurler, not alone probably in Dublin, but in Leinster. I remember hurling with him for Leinster in Italy (in the interprovincial final in Rome). Himself and Stephen Hiney were the two best players on the field.’’

Whelahan agreed that their heavy defeat by Shamrocks in last year’s final had given them a huge motivation. And, he remembered how they had lost a lot of chances in the first of the game. For that reason he was very pleased that they were in a good position at half-time on Sunday when they turned over a mere two points in arrears after playing against the wind.

“I couldn’t believe it, because we lost the toss,’’ he explained. “We started the second half very well and were level very quickly. That set us up for the win. I thought our backline was fantastic.’’

In the meantime, he admits that he’s taking time to adapt to his new position at centre-forward. “It’s a new challenge, a new game. I hope that every day I am learning how to play there. I came up against a very strong centre-back in Aidan Cummins. I don’t think I was as fluent on the ball maybe as I should have.

“I know that once or twice my brother said I wasn’t! At the end of the day it was all about winning.’’

The former Offaly great admitted that he had found it hard initially to commit himself totally to the Birr cause. While he had no difficulty in going to training, the temptation was to allow others to give the leadership.