On the cusp of glory
Eire Og stand on brink of All-ireland club final
WE ARE only three weeks into a new year and already the football season is hotting up for Wicklow teams.
It does get much bigger than an All-ireland and that's what is ahead of Eire Og Greystones as they head for Tullamore on Sunday.
At the same time Harry Murphy's footballers head south to Saint Patrick's Park, Enniscorthy, to take on the home county Wexford in an O'byrne shield semi-final.
Meantime Ronnie Phillips and Damien Byrne are working underneath the radar with their county U-21 footballers as they prepare for the Leinster championship home game against Carlow on February 22.
Eire Og Greystones will appreciate all the support they can get in Tullamore as they take on Davitts from Mayo in the All-ireland Club semi-final, a competition that produces very competitive matches and football of the highest quality at all grades.
The men from Greystones have earned our admiration and support because of their performances so far in the intermediate football championship at both county and Leinster levels in 2011.
Eire Og are a physically big and strong football side that have been knocking on the door of county glory for a number of years while it was in the Leinster Club championship that their quality really shone through with wins over Offaly champions St. Bridget's and Confey of Kildare in testing matches.
On both occasions Eire Og displayed a never say die spirit, coming from behind to record victories that were impressive, merited and hard earned.
Although only an intermediate side up to this year, they boast of having two of Wicklow's top senior county players in Stephen Kelly and Darren, both recipients of sport star awards this weekend, but in truth it would be hard to find a weak link anywhere on the team from goalie to corner-forward.
Whether in victory or defeat, one thing we can be sure of is that the Eire Og men will give 100 percent effort to the cause and are fully committed to going all the way to All-ireland glory.
Based on what we have seen so far they are good enough to take the scalp of Davitts at the weekend and we wish them every good fortune when they take the field in Tullamore on Sunday.
Wexford will be a huge test for Harry Murphy's men in the O'byrne shield and therefore ideal preparation for the league campaign up ahead.
Jason Ryan has done great work with the men from the Model County since he took over; they are playing in a higher division of the league and were more than a shade unlucky not to defeat All-ireland champions Dublin in the Leinster final.
A win for Wicklow on Sunday would be a huge step up for the team as well as a boost to their confidence and they have an added incentive to triumph as it would give them home venue for the Shield final against either Laois or DIT.
Incidentally two Wicklow men Paul Cunningham, a son of former Dunlavin player Brendan, and Anthony Mcloughlin form Blessington are playing for DIT.
Over the last couple of games Harry Murphy has been running the slide rule over a lot of his fringe players, but don't be surprised if decides to beef up his team by including more of his first team players for this tilt at Wexford
- MARK KENNEDY Sports Reporter
