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Make it A Mac double
 By
David Thorpe
There will be new Senior football champions in Warwickshire this season
as Roger Casements were sent crashing out of the championship at the hands
of a rapidly improving Erin Go Bragh outfit.
The Birmingham lads will face Sean McDermotts in the county final on September
23 after the Macs proved much too strong for John Mitchels.
McDermotts remain the only unbeaten team in Warwickshire this season —
their 2-12 to 1-8 victory
was their best performance for some time, being excellent in defence as
well as attack and dominating the midfield.
The feeling is that they have reached this stage
of the competition without really hitting their peak form and if that
is the case then they will be extremely difficult to defeat in the county
final.
Erin Go Bragh’s victory was a minor surprise but they have looked
like a team on an upward curve all season and they played a fast, fluent
brand of football which is pleasing to the eye and extremely hard to defend
against.
The Macs are aiming for an historic double in Warwickshire this season
as they have also reached the Intermediate football final where they will
face a resurgent St. Finbarrs outfit.
Finbarrs advanced to the decider by defeating St. Brendans on a scoreline
of
3-11 to 2-6.
St. Finbarrs are also unbeaten in all competitions this season —
a remarkable achievement for a club which has had to rebuild from the
ground up after a number of disappointing seasons.
The underage policy which has backboned the club this season is certainly
paying off and is a model for the rest of the GAA clubs in Britain to
follow.
McDermotts were much too strong for Roger Casements’ second team
and could have won even more comfortably than by the final scoreline of
1-9 to 0-4.
While Finbarrs are un-beaten all season the experience of the McDermotts
boys will prove crucial
on the day and it will be a titanic struggle between two clubs with very
different goals at the start of the
season.
John Mitchels underlined their status as favourites for the Senior Hurling
Championship title with a comfortable defeat of Manchester outfit Fullan
Gaels on Saturday night.
So as the action in Warwickshire starts to get serious there is nothing
else for any self-respecting Gael to do but sit back, relax and enjoy
the feast of GAA which awaits them in the coming weeks.
n For comprehensive coverage of all of the action in the Warwickshire
county Championship this week-end see page 61. |
