This weekend sees the commencement of the Provincial Club Senior football Championship with Waterford champions The Nire making the trip to Cusack Park, Ennis on Sunday afternoon.
Clare champions, Éire Óg provide the opposition for the Munster Quarter-Final where throw-in is at 1:15pm.
The Ballymacarbry men captured their second successive county title with a hard fought yet deserved win over cross-Comeragh rivals Rathgormack in Walsh Park (0-10 to 0-8) with Conor Gleeson kicking four points in a man of the match display. Gleeson came off with a shoulder injury towards the end of the game but Michael Ryan (The Nire manager) is hoping the inter-county hurler will be fit for this weekend.
Jamie Barron and Seán Walsh also delivered big displays in the county Final as James McGrath hoisted the Conway Cup for the second straight season.
Congratulations to @NireFourmile 🏆🏆🏆@JJKavanaghBuses Senior Football Champions 2022! pic.twitter.com/igYqXSaXR9
— Waterford GAA (@WaterfordGAA) October 30, 2022
The Nire's last victory in Munster came in 2018 at the Gaelic Grounds when they defeated Adare from Limerick to advance to the last four where they were beaten by the then Clare champions, Miltown Malbay.
Speaking on Monday evening's "On The Ball" programme, The Nire manager Michael Ryan says they are keen to maintain their good record at Provincial level; "When we think about the Munster Club Championship around here in The Nire valley and Ballymacarbry, we've a good record. We've got to three Munster club finals, probably could have won should have won two of them, we will feel in the last three or four campaigns we probably didn't do ourselves justice, we were a little bit hampered last year when we went to Newcastlewest because we lost four players with Covid".
Éire Óg, Ennis have had a busy season as they also contested the Clare hurling decider losing out narrowly to Ballyea in a thrilling decider. They overcame Ennistymon by 0-9 to 0-6 in the football decider and Michael Ryan is well aware of the challenge the Clare kingpins will pose this Sunday; "We'll be expecting a pretty hot reception up there because they've a couple of really really good players on that team and they ground out the Clare county Final, won by a couple of points. It was a tough battle as well but it's probably a bit unusual for a club from Ennis to win the football championship in Clare because most of the football would be seen as being in West Clare but they did it, they were in two finals and they are a very formidable side".
We'll bring Sunday's game live on WLR thanks to George Corbett Skoda, with commentary team Gavin Whelan and Michelle Ryan.
Two other Waterford clubs are also in Munster Football Quarter-Final action this weekend, both on Saturday afternoon.
Roanmore will take on Na Piarsaigh in Kilmallock at 1:15pm in the Intermediate grade, while recently crowned Junior champions Shamrocks are also on the road to Limerick, they entertain Castlemahon also at 1:15pm. A busy football weekend in store, here's wishing all three Déise clubs the very best of luck!
