A look back at the dominance of Clough-Ballacolla as they prepared for a mammoth four Laois hurling championship finals in September.
They could lose all four or they could win all four – either way it’s an incredible position that Clough-Ballacolla find themselves in this week as they look forward to playing in no less than four Laois hurling championship finals.
The club have reached Senior, Intermediate, Junior ‘A’ and Minor finals as hurling in the area enjoys a real golden era.
It is some going for a small rural club who fielded a total of four adult teams this year as well as their own minor and U-20 teams. Indeed it’s an achievement that would hold its own with any of the top hurling clubs in the country.
Having reached the Leinster senior club final last year in Croke Park, they now stand just 60 minutes away from doing a three-in-a-row in Laois.
The mighty Camross stand in their way and would love nothing more than to, quote Alex Ferguson, “knock them off their f***ing perch”.
But taking all four teams into account, and reckoning they have 20 on each panel, it means that up 80 different players will be part of a county final experience in O’Moore Park. And last Sunday morning they gathered for a group photo in the community hall in the village. Such moments deserve to be recognised.
The exploits of their senior team have been well documented over the past couple of seasons but their second team are back in the intermediate final (the third grade) for the second year running and they face Mountmellick in O’Moore Park on Saturday evening at 6.30pm.
They lost last year’s final narrowly to Trumera and will seek to go one further on this occasion against a Mountmellick side that beat them in the group stages.
A host of their intermediate players have tasted senior championship success over the years with Danny and Shane Hanlon, Brendan and Michael McEvoy, Canice Coonan, John A Delaney and Tim Delaney all have played in senior finals.
That team is managed by Georgie Boyhan, John T Delaney, Damien Bergin and John Fitzpatrick.
And their third team – under Liam Dunne, Gerry Glendon and Kayne Kavanagh – also boasts a handful of players that have senior medals: Mick Dunphy, Damien Bergin and Damien Hogan were all on the breakthrough 2009 team.
They are in county final action on Thursday evening when they play Rosenallis at 7.15pm in O’Moore Park.
Finally, and very significantly, their minors take on The Harps on Friday week, October 7, in O’Moore Park. Their manager is Ricky Cashin, the former Laois and Clough-Ballacolla goalkeeper whose career pre-dates the current successful era. He’s joined on the management team by Jimmy Rae, Pauric Hyland and Gordon Pearson.
They were beaten in the corresponding U-15 final two seasons ago but boast a number of players from the high-profile Laois minor team and will go into the final with high hopes.
As you’d expect, the flags and bunting and good luck signs are all around the parish.
The senior final – at 4pm on Sunday – is the big one and will be the eighth time in 14 years that they’ll have lined out on county final day.
Given that a team from the parish had only been in one final in the 80 years prior to that, it really has been amazing decade.
They know, of course, that these great times won’t last.
But they’re well entitled to enjoy them while they do.
