We are in the final on merit – Maloney
By Noel Dundon
Nenagh Eire Og manager Hugh Maloney was keeping his feet on the ground following Sunday’s victory over Drom & Inch in the county senior hurling semi-final.
The former long serving defender has featured in a few county finals in his time in the sky blue jersey and while he would dearly love to be still plying his trade on the field, his work outside the tramlines now occupies his thoughts as he steered his charges through to the decider following their very impressive showing.
“We are very pleased because we knew Drom & Inch would come back at us in this game,” he began.
“We got a great start, and they probably were going for goals early on, and the scoreboard at the end was probably not a true reflection of the overall game.
“But we are very happy because at the start of the year you set your goals to be in a county final. We are there now and I suppose if you are not in it, you cannot win it. We are there on merit but we are under no illusions either, we go in as underdogs.”
Picking a Nenagh team without Mikey Heffernan included was a strange experience but the fact that he was missing was used to spur on the lads and give them an extra edge, Hugh revealed.
“To do it without Mikey Heffernan was very pleasing,” Maloney admitted.
“Michael has soldiered unbelievably for Nenagh down through the years and that was mentioned in the dressing room beforehand.
“It will be touch and go for him to be ready for the next day, but look, that’s what the panel is for and that’s why fellas train and come on. Ben West accounted for himself very well today and Sam O’Farrell did very well on the frees.”
Hugh paid tribute to the work of Noel Maloney, John Brennan, Martin Bennett and the backroom team who have worked so hard to get the players into shape – the club juniors play a county semi-final next weekend also against Holycross/Ballycahill and have benefitted from all of the fine work underway in Nenagh at present.
“It is just great to be here in the final and Loughmore will be favourites but we are really looking forward to it,” he concluded.
Drom & Inch’s Frankie McGrath described the frustration at not being able to get into a flow in the game, but he was quick to give credit to Nenagh Eire Og for the manner in which they prevented that from happening.
“For some reason today, we didn’t get into our flow at any stage,” he admitted.
“We went in seven points down at half time and the last day we came out and got a goal to kick start us in the second half but in fairness to Nenagh they snuffed us and sat Barry Heffernan back deep in defence to prevent us from getting goals. We were left to try and work it in then and they are a big athletic team and it is hard to get through them.
“Sometimes you just have to take your hat off and say they were the better team and they deserve their victory today. They will have every chance in the final and good luck to them.”
Drom & Inch were not tipped to reach this stage of the championship but through resilience and hard work, they meandered their way all the way through. It was a very positive campaign and will perhaps set the tempo for next year for the club.
“At the start of the year, the ambition was to try and get out of the group and you don’t really think too much ahead of that,” he added.
“But, when you get out then and have good results like we had against Clonoulty/Rossmore and Moycarkey/Borris and end up in a semi-final, you are always hoping that on your day things might go well.
“These days don’t come around every year and you just have to try and grab it when they do come about. But unfortunately, that didn’t work out for us today,” he said.