Can Clough-Ballacolla deliver a Christmas miracle against Ballyhale Shamrocks?

Clough-Ballacolla’s Willie Dunphy celebrates after their victory over Kilmacud Crokes in the Leinster Club SHC semi-final in Portlaoise.  Picture: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Only future quizzes will be able to tell the true tale of Clough-Ballacolla’s achievements this year.

Which club claimed two senior county hurling titles in the space of 85 days?

Laois senior hurling’s Bob O’Keeffe Cup never mind its roll of honour will merely confirm the club won back-to-back championships but there has been so much more to their story.

For instance, no sooner had the 2020 title been won in August that they were defending it the following month, just 22 days later. Time has indeed been a precious commodity in Clough-Ballacolla. Last Saturday, the decision was taken not to toast the against-the-odds Leinster semi-final win over Kilmacud Crokes. Eight days previous, anyone who wanted to enjoy a drink or two at Willie Dunphy and Niamh Guy’s wedding were allowed to do so.

However, abstinence was preached with Ballyhale Shamrocks and Croke Park on the horizon seemed wrong.

“We didn’t go out after the match on Saturday,” says Dunphy. “We only had eight days to prepare so we said we would do everything in our power to prepare for the game and be in the right frame of mind. The parish is hopping. The schools are going mad, the kids can’t wait to go to Croke Park. We’re not going to fill Croke Park but you’re definitely going to hear the blue and yellow people on Sunday.”

There will be time enough to let the achievements of the last five months sink in. Dunphy continued: “We haven’t had time to reflect on anything at all, to be honest.

“I haven’t even looked back on the county finals from this year. It’s been great, it’s been a whirlwind and every week has brought something different whether it’s a match or wedding preparation.

“Having the final before Christmas doesn’t give us as much time to prepare for the mighty Ballyhale but I prefer seeing the competition finished this year whether we win on Sunday or get knocked out and we can focus on next season.”

Striking the iron while it’s hot appeals to Dunphy personally. Not 30 until next year, it’s not as if time is of the essence but the injuries he’s amassed over the years might catch up with him at some stage.

“At the start of the year, I had surgery on my good knee and that set me back three months. I found it hard to get back from that one because it was so slow and tedious. There were times when I thought this year would fall away from me.

“It’s 13 years since I got the cruciate operation on the other knee done. There is probably not much mileage left in it but it’s good for now. The last five or six years, I’ve had a great run of time with it, constantly training and constantly getting through matches so I can’t complain.

“I haven’t done much training of late because of the wedding. I went back training last Wednesday week and I felt as fresh as ever having taken two weeks off. It didn’t go my way last Saturday night but I thought I did everything I could. I thought I worked hard. The knees are holding up and there is definitely another kick in me yet.”

As there is in 38-year-old centre-back Michael McEvoy, who along with Willie Hyland and Darren Maher was on the Laois team that beat Kilkenny on their way to winning the Walsh Cup Shield in 2010.

“He’s still as fit as ever,” enthuses Dunphy. “There’s not a pick on him. He’s still holding fort at centre-back and I am so happy for him. He came off the last day with cramp but the standing ovation he got from the crowd as he left the field shows how unreal the respect is for him around the village.”

Strange as it might sound but the likes of Hyland and Maher have not played a senior hurling game in Croke Park.

For Dunphy and Stephen “Picky” Maher, they’ve had the experience of the 2019 All-Ireland quarter-final against Tipperary, a Joe McDonagh Cup final, and the Leinster opener against Dublin last year.

“It’s mad when you think they were hurling with Laois for 10 years and never played in Croke Park,” Dunphy says. “Some of us are familiar enough with it. For others, it’s a dream come true to be playing there. But it’s a pitch like any other pitch and there’s a Leinster final to be won and that reality can’t be lost either.”

Momentum is Clough-Ballacolla’s biggest asset heading into tomorrow. Having failed to win a game in Leinster in three attempts, they have now put two back-to-back with the victories against Rapparees and Crokes.

“We fully believed we had a great chance against Crokes if we performed. Crokes came at us near the end but I thought we had done fierce well to come back after they got the goal. In other years, we would have probably bowed our heads and ended up losing by five or six points.

“The form probably stems from the Laois championship when we hurled a serious Rathdowney-Errill team in the semi-final and were seven points down and a man down at half-time and we clawed our way out of that. Then in the final against Borris-(in-Ossory)-Kilcotton we were twice seven points down and still managed to come out of it by a point.

“The 2020 county final was a massive game for us and we grinded that one out. We came into that much under a bit of pressure with injuries but a lot of them have cleared up.

“Those games give you so much momentum and belief in the players around you and management. If we bring that attitude forward on Sunday we definitely have a chance.”

Regardless, more eyeballs will be on a Laois hurling team, which pleases Dunphy no end.

“The fact the last two games have been on RTÉ gives us a nationwide profile and right now we’re the ones representing Laois hurling so we want to do that to the best of our ability.

“We’re definitely after putting Laois hurling on the map the last few weeks and if we manage to pull it off on
Sunday it’ll just be massive for the game in the county.”