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Dream comes true
 By
David Thorpe
Through months of training in muck, rain and sludge Warwickshire hurl-ers
dreamed of days like this.
A place in the quarter-finals of the Nicky Rackard Cup awaits Michael
Collins’ men after they defeated Cavan by 2-15 to 0-7 to record
one of the greatest results in the history of hurling in Warwickshire.
Now they can look forward to their third meeting with Louth in a year
— having
been drawn against the Wee County men in the quarter-finals.
That game — scheduled for this weekend in Drogheda — will
be the ultimate test for the Exiles, Louth being arguably the strongest
side left in the competition.
A goal in each half from Tipperary native Martin Morrissey was sufficient
to seal victory for Warwickshire.
The game’s turning point came just before the interval when Warwickshire
were leading by a point.
A Cavan ’65 dropped short, the Whites cleared the ball and won a
free from which Morrissey scored the first of his goals to leave the British-based
boys leading by four-points at half-time.
Morrissey can claim to be the most dedicated GAA player in Britain travelling
from Bristol to Birmingham to play for Warwickshire while continuing to
line-out for the St. Nicholas footballers in his home city.
Manager Michael Collins was confident that his team could advance to the
knock-out stages of this year’s Rackard Cup.
Speaking to The Irish Post he said: “We have progressed in each
of the three years we have been in this competition.
“In the first year we were competitive. Last year we won a couple
of matches and no-one beat us easily and to be honest when I saw which
group we were in this year I thought we would qualify.”
Collins believes that the addition of five new players to last year’s
squad has helped Warwickshire prog-ress further.
He said: “I think that every year we have been in the competition
we have moved up a level.
“The new players helped us to do that and so did the extra matches
we got as a result of playing in the Leinster Junior Shield.
“There are some fine teams left in the competition — Armagh
and Roscommon probably are amongst the best — but we have no reason
to fear anyone.”
If Warwickshire were slightly the better team in the first-half on Saturday
they completely dominated the second period holding Cavan scoreless and
delivering an excellent team performance.
Morrissey’s second goal coupled with three points from Des Kelly
and some brave defending from centre-back Mark Lyons ensured that victory
would belong to the boys in white.
The dream of competitive hurling in Warwickshire is one which has long
been nourished by a handful of GAA stalwarts and on Saturday in Breffni
Park their dreams were made reality.
Speaking about the tricky clash away to Louth, Collins said: “To
be honest it could have been a lot worse.
“Louth have beaten us twice this season including in the Rackard
Cup when they won by eight points but we played well below par in that
game.
“If we can repeat the performance against Cavan then we have a chance.”
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