Super Saturday and Sunday beckons in Flanagan Cup race

By Gerry Buckley

Sky Sports often trot out the ‘Super Sunday’ promo ahead of what often transpires to be the dullest of dull Sundays as the money-obsessed Premier League reaches its annual conclusion.

There are no mega-rich Saudi Arabians backing any GAA club in Westmeath – a few riyals for a long overdue centre of excellence would help if any sheikhs are reading! – and our amateur sportsmen, as ever, deserve enormous credit for the sacrifices they make to represent their parish and county.

Indeed, gone are the day when only inter-county players were addressed by dieticians, psychologists, a miscellany of stats people etc. The late Eugene McGee’s comment in the days preceding Offaly’s ground-breaking Sam Maguire Cup win in 1982 was again trotted out in my company lately: “Our lads are so focused on beating Kerry that some of them haven’t taken a drink since Wednesday!”

Better again, the first Faithful County man to lift Sam 11 years earlier, elegant Walsh Island midfielder Willie Bryan, openly admits to having drank a couple of quiet and nerve-settling pints unrecognised in a Dublin pub on the night before their historic win against Galway in 1971. Aren’t the cameras on modern mobile phones a nuisance!

Nowadays, club footballers and hurlers other than those who play in what is effectively a hobby at lower levels are invariably slim, trim and manly. A mouth-watering series of games will provide days of conversation for fans of Westmeath's 12 senior football clubs ahead of next weekend’s half-dozen make-or-break contests in five different venues (TEG Cusack Park stages a ‘B’ section game on Saturday and an ‘A’ contest on Sunday).

While St Loman’s, Mullingar are near unbackable favourites to regain the Flanagan Cup donated six decades ago by club icon, the late and truly great Paddy Flanagan, nine other clubs remain in contention, albeit some – especially Killucan – by a thread.

With The Downs already out of contention to retain the blue riband trophy in Lake County football, it would be a brave person who would predict anything other than blue and white ribbons adorning it come October. Indeed, one could argue that, at their best, the Delvin Road outfit would beat the best of the rest in the county, but they have come unstuck on a few occasions since they regained the Flanagan Cup in 2013 after an agonising half-century wait.

Already home and hosed as semi-finalists-in-waiting, Paddy Dowdall’s charges will round off the league section of their campaign with a game against the aforementioned Killucan on Sunday in a somewhat unfamiliar venue for the Mullingar men, Moynihan Park in Ballynacargy. This may be an opportunity for rookie manager Dowdall to try out a few fringe players against Stephen Morley’s men. However, given the importance of the outcome to all bar The Downs, St Loman’s will be expected to go full throttle and this could mean the end of the road for the saffron and white-clad outfit.

Elsewhere in section ‘A’, Lar Wall’s champions wrap up a hugely disappointing summer against Caulry in Shandonagh. Shane Curran is always a very visible presence on the line for an up-and-coming side in red and white, and they need a positive result to copper-fasten knockout football. This has the makings of a gripping encounter.

Perhaps the most intriguing clash in the top section is the meeting at GAA headquarters of two teams who could push St Loman’s all the way in the latter stages, with Ray Sheridan and Paschal Kellaghan/Jack Cooney wearing the respective bainisteoir bibs as Tyrrellspass (four points) and Coralstown/Kinnegad (five points) square up. Both look set for the business end of the championship, but neither can afford a slip-up given the other games which are out of their control.

However, it is the ‘B’ section that promises the most drama. As stated earlier, mobile phones have their drawbacks, but they will be in great demand on Saturday as patrons look for updates from other venues. Keith Higgins’ Tang side are guaranteed a quarter-final slot with a 100 per cent record from their opening four games. They will be keen to approach the knockout stages unbeaten and their game with Shandonagh in TEG Cusack Park is set to be a cracker. Kevin Hickey’s second spell in charge of his native Shandonagh would be deemed a real success if the navy and blue-clad side progress.

Three other sides are on the four-point mark alongside Shandonagh. Two of them meet in The Downs, with Moate All Whites facing Mullingar Shamrocks. Liam McNeill and Enda Monaghan are both highly regarded as coaches and this battle of wits is likely to draw a big crowd to the resplendent venue on the outskirts of Mullingar.

Tubberclair hosts the Shannonside derby between Athlone and Garrycastle. Some weeks back, this was envisaged by many to be a likely winner-takes-all match to avoid intermediate football in 2024. However, once-mighty Garrycastle are pointless to date and are already consigned to Peter Geraghty Cup football next year, and it will not be easy to gain promotion from what is always a dog-eat-dog championship.

Garrycastle will want to exit the senior ranks with heads held high, but Eoin Jordan’s Athlone will be hungry for points. This will not be a contest for the faint-hearted.

And if you added the weekly wages of the 200-odd players who will give their all for their beloved clubs next weekend, a bottom-of-the-table Premier League journeyman earns more. Long live the GAA’s amateur ethos.