New-found belief hints at Blue Sunday

The once dominant club in Clare hurling – they lead the roll of honour with 22 championships, 13 of which were won in the 19-year period between 1963 and 1981 – hasn’t won the Canon Hamilton Trophy in 31 years.
They have been threatening a breakthrough in the past decade but the nearest they have come was to contest the final in 2008 when they lost to Clonlara. This year they enlisted the services of Tipperary’s All-Ireland winning manager Liam Sheedy as they stepped up their efforts to make the breakthrough.
Initially the Portroe clubman’s involvement was minimal but, as the season progressed, his involvement increased. For the past couple of games in the competition he has been with the squad on match day and he has supervised a number of training sessions in recent times, including last weekend.
There is no doubt but that Sheedy has an impressive CV. He managed his native Premier County to All-Ireland minor and senior successes and earlier this year he guided his native club to a first North Tipperary Senior Championship success.
This year, Newmarket has shown a ferocious determination to succeed. In each of their games they have displayed a massive hunger for success, a trait that has played a big part in their progress to Sunday’s final.
Emigration and injury has forced Bob Enright and his management team into making a number of changes. While they have acknowledged that those who are missing are a big loss to the team, they haven’t dwelt on this.
Instead they have looked to the next challenge with Enright repeatedly saying that the absence of regulars has provided an opportunity for other members of the squad to stake a claim.
Many clubs would have struggled if they lost players of the calibre of Stephen Kelly, arguably Newmarket’s most consistent performer over the past few years, Kieran Devitt, captain when they reached the 2008 final, Padraig Kilmartin, Shane O’Brien senior and Bernard Gaffney to mention but a few.
Cratloe, like their final opponents, were included on most people’s shortlist of possible winners at the outset. Because of the much publicised involvement of a third of their line-up with Clare’s All-Ireland winning U-21 hurlers, together with the fact that almost all of their players make up the club’s football team, not to mention the fact that some also play U-21 and senior football for the county, doubts as to whether or not they can win the Canon Hamilton Trophy have been expressed on more than one occasion.
They have had a few near misses along the way but when the pressure was on against Kilmaley in the quarter-final and against Inagh-Kilnamona two weeks ago, they were able to step up a gear and pick off the necessary scores.
On their day, they are a match for anybody but consistency hasn’t been their strong point this season. Newmarket, on the other hand, have produced consistent displays, something which is indicated by their qualification for both championship and league (Clare Champion Cup) finals.
Joe McGrath and his Cratloe management team will need to have their squad at their peak if they are to bridge a three-year gap to their only previous win in this championship. It’s expected that their team will be along similar lines to that which lined out in the semi-final.
In some of their games to date, they have conceded some rather ‘soft’ frees and a repeat of this is sure to prove costly given the form Colin Ryan has been showing for Newmarket. He is the Blues’ top scoring freetaker.
Cratloe will need their half-back trio of Michael Hawes, Conor Ryan and Liam Markham to hold the upperhand. If this happens, it should ensure a plentiful supply of ball to their full-forward line where they will be hoping that Conor McGrath and Cathal McInerney can create the openings that will lead to the vital scores.
It’s been said on many occasions this season that Newmarket have an over dependency on Colin Ryan for their scores.
He is their top scorer despite the best efforts of many teams to limit the supply to him and to cut down on frees conceded. Incidentally, it’s not just down to opposing defences to cut down on conceding frees, as Ryan will have a go from his own half-back line.
At the other end of the field, Conor McGrath and Cathal McInerney have been the chief scorers for Cratloe who have a more even spread of scorers with Paudge Collins always chipping in with a few points
While Cratloe followers will look to the half-backs to dominate, Newmarket are strong in this area also with Niall O’Connor, scorer of the match-winning point in their semi-final win over Clonlara, joining the Barrett brothers, team skipper Enda and Alan.
In the modern game, midfield is often bypassed and it will be interesting to see how Sunday’s game pans out as both sides have vital players in this section. Eoin Hayes and Martin O’Hanlon are the likely Newmarket pairing and they will face Ogie Murphy and Sean Collins.
As stated at the outset, there are reasons why supporters of both sides can be confident about Sunday’s final. Taking the season as a whole, Newmarket have been the more consistent side. They have displayed a ferocious hunger for success in this campaign and Cratloe will have to match that if they are to win back the Canon Hamilton Trophy.
Newmarket’s consistency throughout the season earns them the favourites’ tag and come Sunday evening at about 5pm, it is expected a 31-year wait will have ended for the Blues.