Junior final has makings of a classic showdown

Paul Fitzpatrick

In many ways, the winner of this year’s Junior Championship were always going to be popular with the neutrals. No-one would have begrudged Ballymachugh, who have been working hard but luckless in finals of late, or Mountnugent, who have gone a long number of years without silverware, had they made it through to the Promised Land.
And the feeling still rings true as the final has thrown up what has the makings of a classic between two sides who have been down, it seems, all the days.
First, the Reds of Cornafean. They are without one of the premier county titles since a late smash and grab saw them plunder the junior crown against Drumgoon back in 2000.
Slowly, though, they have been building towards this Sunday. In each of the last two seasons, they have lost the semi-final to Arva, who have gone on to prove themselves a formidable force by reaching the Intermediate Championship final.
It’s reasonable to suggest that had the Reds overcome their neighbours, the Sean Leddy Cup would have wintered around MacSeain’s hostelry already by now.

Physical edge
This time, they looked primed to deliver a big performance. Gowna man Laurence Brady, veteran of the big day, will have them tuned to the right frequency when they take their places behind the band.
They could hold the physical edge, with Mark Johnson a powerful figure at full-back and Cormac Geoghegan and Cathal Sheridan imposing around the middle.
The inside line of Jack Wharton, Liam Duignan and Pauric Tully kicked 0-10 between them in the semi-final rout of Kill and the conductor of that performance was the classy Barry Doyle, a sweet striker of the ball who can be relied upon to come up with five or six points most days.

Well-schooled
Templeport, though, have no shortage of class either. Their side is built on graduates of a successful underage programme who have been well-schooled all the way up.
Their strongest sector is in attack. Ben Kiernan, king of the dummy solo, has been operating around the half-forward line, with the excellent Liam Galligan and Eoin Doonan taking on much of the scoring burden inside.
At the back, Sean Dolan has been rock-solid minding the house and Michael Devine superb in the corner. They bring a physical edge to the Saints’ side, as does powerful wing-back Lasse Morgenrath.
Killian Smith has also shown up well and with Kieran McManus to potentially come off the bench, Fintan Reilly, the former Redhills goalkeeper, will feel his side are in with a hell of a chance of landing a first county title since they won the Intermediate in 1995.
The Reds hold a narrow win over their opponents from when the pair met in the opening game of this competition but the feeling is that both sides have moved on since. Both are purring nicely coming into what should be an excellent tussle.
A draw is a very real possibility but, gun to the head, the class of Kiernan and the pacey Galligan might just see the west Cavan side home by a point.