At the beginning of the year had we been told we would still be hurling in October and be putting their final touches on preparations for a County Final, we would have bitten your hand off as quick as you uttered those words, for that was the dream for 2016.
The reality is we are in a final but one with a lot more on the line. At 3pm today O’Garney Park plays host to part two as we do battle with Kilmaley in the Clare Senior Hurling Championship Relegation Final replay. In typing the last sentence the word ‘relegation’ was accidentally omitted on first attempt, honestly! This could easily have been the pairing for the showpiece event in the local championship but for 2016 that honour is bestowed upon the men from Ballyea and Clonlara.
Sixty minutes separate us from retaining our senior status and becoming an intermediate club for the first time in our history. Like the drawn game this will be one hell of a battle with no inch given by either side.
There is no doubting the ability of the men that will don the blue and gold jersey in Sixmilebridge. Over the years we have joined them on the good days, the bad days and the ugly days, we’ve embraced them in celebration, we’ve helped pick them up when heartbreaking defeat has weighed them down.
Once more we need you to come up and puck every single ball with our Blues until the final whistle to ensure we get the result that we so desperately want. Margins win games, be one of those small margins, put on the club top wear it with pride and let your voice be heard. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again ‘there is no more powerful object than a united parish of Newmarket-on-Fergus’. Large crowds attended the drawn game, there will be a bigger attendance present today with even more people licking their lips at the prospect of seeing the Blues go down.
Generations of great men and women have worn jerseys with the CLG Cora Chaitlín crest on it, in our dressing room today there are great men who need to produce the fight of their lives. They’ve done it before and we have every faith in them that they will do it again.
If we win we win, if we lose we lose, life will go on but if we fall we will rise again. In years to come 8th October 2016 will be referred to as a defining day in the history of our club, let it be said that on the 8th of October 2016 you were there to support the men in Blue and Gold that you drove them on tackle after tackle, score after score, let it be said that you played your part, it may just make the difference.
NOTHING BEATS BEING THERE – 3pm in Sixmilebridge