ST Joseph’s Doora-Barefield manager Mark Rafferty feels the two-week break since their semi-final replay win over Kilmurry Ibrickane should help his team to approach Saturday’s final fit and fresh. Of course, Ennistymon have had a longer break, not having played a competitive game for a month.
“Now that we have got the extra week maybe has done us no harm. We had the extra time the first day against Kilmurry and then the replay was also a tough game.
“Hopefully, that extra week’s rest will give us that extra bit of breathing space and maybe lads will be a little bit fresher,” Rafferty suggested.
Ironically, the St Joseph’s senior player maintains it was a defeat to Kilmurry, in the group stage of the championship, that helped St Joseph’s to turn their campaign around.
“We were up with 10 minutes to go but Kilmurry came back and beat us by a point. There was a bit of argy bargy at the end of the game but it was a bit of a watershed for us. We seemed to turn the corner after that,” he explained.
The St Joseph’s manager is hopeful that Andrew Houlihan and Niall de Loughrey will have fully recovered from injury.
Other St Joseph’s players they will need big displays from include goalkeeper Shane Collins, who saved one of two penalties in the Kilmurry replay, Alan O’Neill, Cathal Duggan and Jarlath Colleran.
Rafferty is expecting a huge challenge from Ennistymon.
“Their midfield is very strong, as is their half-back line and they’ve got Joey Rouine up in the forwards. All over the field they’re strong, although we were missing a couple of players the day we played them. For the last 10 minutes of that game they were playing with 14 men and ended up winning it by four or five points,” he recalled.

‘Ennistymon integrity not in question’

THERE is no disguising the fact that Ennistymon are preparing for their fourth successive minor A county final in unsatisfactory circumstances.
Ideally, the Mark Shanahan-managed team should be completely concentrating on trying to defeat St Joseph’s Doora-Barefield on Saturday in Miltown at 2pm. If they do, the club will have completed an U-21 and minor A double, which would represent a huge achievement.
However, the club is adamant that they have done nothing wrong with regard to the non-playing of their semi-final against Clondegad. Shanahan says his team turned up for the game in Quilty and he didn’t want to say too much about the saga.
“The integrity of this club is not in question,” Shanahan told The Clare Champion.
“We have retained our integrity and have kept our counsel,” he added.
Back on the field, Ennistymon lost the 2009 minor final to Lissycasey, while they defeated Kilmurry Ibrickane in the 2008 final in Miltown.
As they prepare for their fourth final in-a-row, one Ennistymon player, Ronan Linnane, has featured in all of them, which is a remarkable achievement. Ten of last year’s starting team, which lost to Lissycasey in Kilmihil, are still eligible this year.
“Having a good few of last year’s team still available is a help but we know that we will have a huge task against Doora-Barefield on Saturday,” Shanahan predicted.
When Ennistymon met St Joseph’s in the group stage of the 2010 championship, they won in Gurteen, although Shanhan says Barefield were minus some key first-choice team members.
While the Ennistymon minor club and, in particular, club secretary Gerry Murphy have had to deal with the Clondegad controversy in recent weeks, the club is confident the players are completely focussed on Saturday’s final.