Baldwin eyes up back-to-back titles

Senior Hurling Championship final preview

Kevin Óg Carney

Ahead of this Sunday's (3pm) Senior Hurling Championship final at Kingspan Breffni between East Cavan Gaels, last year's first-time winners, and a Cootehill Celtic squad gunning to win the club's 9th title, it seems only a brave or foolish punter would bet on a likely winner.

East Cavan Gaels' success last year in beating (0-15 to 1-9) defending champions Cootehill Celtic in the county final wasn't a major surprise. ECG were a 'coming' team going into 2025. They had run defending champions Cootehill very close (3-14 to 2-19) in the 2023 final That they eventually arrived came as a shock to only those among the uninitiated.

In addition, the Bailieboro-based newbie (founded in 2009) beat the Celts in a couple of senior hurling league finals prior to their summer success last Autumn. Just to prove it wasn't a fluke, last November they successfully defended their league title by beating the Hoops. So the writing had been on the wall.

"For the last three years or so, things have been very close between us and Cootehill," East Cavan Gaels manager Adam Baldwin told the Anglo-Celt ahead of this Sunday's county decider at HQ.

"There's been little or nothing in it in recent finals and I'd say it'll be the same sort of outcome in this year's final.

"The results of the last few matches between us and Cootehill means that it'll be a case of two well-matched sides going at it again and it's anyone's guess as to who will come out on the right side of it."

While Mullahoran et al in the county are all too well aware that the development of hurling in Cavan remains very much a 'numbers' game, East Cavan Gaels and Cootehill are better stocked than most for players fit and available to represent their clubs. Baldwin, though, reckons that quantity is also matched by the degree of quality inherent in each camp:

"You only have to look at the county (senior) squad to see the players from both camps on it and you can see the quality that's there," the Waterford native enthused.

"Both teams have a lot of very good players; good players in every sector of the field and a lot of them have played on the biggest stage of all and at a very respectable level so I would think we're in for a very high quality final.

"Both teams have good supporting casts too and I'd say there'll be plenty of scores and end-to-end action. There's too much quality there for it not to be a good game, especially if the weather is okay. We're all looking forward to it."

A member of the Cavan senior hurling panel back in 2019/20, the Passage East clubman and former Waterford underage county player says the Breffni county's success in reaching its second Lory Meagher Cup final in five years has raised the profile of our national game in Cavan. He hopes that some of the swell of support that emerged on the intercounty scene in recent times will be witnessed again on the domestic scene this Sunday afternoon.

"I think it'll be a good final again this year and hopefully the supporters come out in good numbers," Baldwin surmises.

"Some say that familiarity breeds contempt what with so many of the lads being team-mates on the Cavan team but I think in this case, familiarity has bred respect and that'll be shown on Sunday.

"I've seen what the county lads can do at Croke Park and I'm sure that the other less experienced, home-grown lads, on both teams, will rise to the occasion on Sunday and give a good account of themselves and help to put on a good show."

The Kingscourt resident reports that preparations for his charges "haven't been as good as last year" for a variety of reasons with the 'non-county crew' being hit by injuries with the likes of Conor Walsh (cruciate), Dermot Donnellan (cruciate) and Rory Farrell (shoulder) all being injured for large spells which has tested the strength in depth of the ECG panel.

It is understood that the first-named pair will not feature this Sunday but Farrell, back playing with Bailieborough Shamrocks, will be available for selection.

"We had 16 competitive games going into last year's final with action in the Monaghan League and South Ulster League but that has been far from the case this year because of the unavailability of a lot of players for different reasons so that has made it a tough year for us as a management team," Baldwin explains.

"It's been a testing year, all round, and we've lost Liam (O'Brien) from this year's squad but I still think we can pull things together and get over the line. You have to think positive and I know from the fellas who will cross the line on Sunday and those who we bring in will be doing their very best to see that we hold onto our title."