Clara vs Edenderry 9/10/11

[RexHamilton]

Did anyone notice that in the semi finals Edenderry players and Clara players made a habit of kicking the ball over the bar in an attepmt to beat the opposition, this tactic will probably be used next Sunday as well.

[offalyman08]

Did anyone notice that in the semi finals Edenderry players and Clara players made a habit of kicking the ball over the bar in an attepmt to beat the opposition, this tactic will probably be used next Sunday as well.

Best comment ive seen in a long time!

[Goodsupporter11]

Ha i doubt think red exile is going to make another comment any time soon ha

[Long John]

Did anyone notice that in the semi finals Edenderry players and Clara players made a habit of kicking the ball over the bar in an attepmt to beat the opposition, this tactic will probably be used next Sunday as well.

Very good, excellent stuff.

[Bord na Mona man]

Did anyone notice that in the semi finals Edenderry players and Clara players made a habit of kicking the ball over the bar in an attepmt to beat the opposition, this tactic will probably be used next Sunday as well.

Aye, this will be Plan B.

[TheManFromFerbane]

Did anyone notice that in the semi finals Edenderry players and Clara players made a habit of kicking the ball over the bar in an attepmt to beat the opposition, this tactic will probably be used next Sunday as well.

[Fargo Boyle]

Did anyone notice that in the semi finals Edenderry players and Clara players made a habit of kicking the ball over the bar in an attepmt to beat the opposition, this tactic will probably be used next Sunday as well.

Did anyone also notice that both teams made a habit of putting 15 players on the pitch with player numbers ascending the further from their own goal they stood, this tatic will probably be used next Sunday as well

[azoffaly]

Look up the phrase 'Jumped the Shark' there Fargo

[GOOFY]

Lets all hope tommo deehan can put his "stamp" on the game on sunday as well as he did against pollagh

[red exile]

Looks like it's goin to be a very tactical game so !!!:)

[The Magpie]

On the third Sunday in October of 1995, Clara took to the field in O'Connor Park to play their third County Final in 5 years. Having won on their previous two appearances (91, 93) and with a strong, young team packed with Senior and U21 County footballers, confidence was high that the Dowling Cup would return to Clara. At the other end of the field was a slightly older Edenderry team, appearing in their first decider for 10 years. A lot of that final is a blur now, but the things that do stand-out are the performances of youngsters John 'Baby' Mason, Cillian Farrell and Shane Bagnall, the industry of Ciaran 'Duke' Connell and the brilliance of two of the finest footballers in the County - Peter Brady and Finbar Cullen. Edenderry built a strong early lead, were reeled-in to a point and then tagged on a couple of late ones to bring the Dowling Cup eastward for the first time in 10 years.

Nobody realised it at the time, but the starter gun was fired for Edenderry that day. Entering the most successful period of the clubs history, by 2001, they would have added another 3 County titles to their collection and would be at the business end of the Championship for most of those years. For that young Clara team, extraordinarily, the bell was tolling. They wouldn't return to a County Semi-Final for 6 years and by the time they reached the County Final in 2003, the team of 95 had disappeared - only 5 remained. Amazing and unexpected things happen in football.

On Sunday, Clara and Edenderry meet again in a final for the first time since that day. In that wonderful way that only the GAA can re-stage a play, generations apart, with some of the same actors, there are some intriguing themes.

- Edenderry again enter a county final for the first-time in 10 years.
- Clara have been beaten en-route to the final (by Gracefield), as they were in 1995 (by Daingean and Rhode).
- In 1995, Pat Flanagan, Tony Dalton and Willie Reynolds lined-out at 2, 4 & 14 respectively. Kevin Guing, Finbar Cullen and Peter Brady lined-out at 4, 6 & 8. On Sunday, these same men will try to influence matters from the dugout.
- Tony Dalton and Alan Cronin are the soul survivors of the 1995 final. At least one of the two should appear on Sunday, pulling a far-reaching thread through the two finals.
- Eoin Brady will line out for Clara against some of the players that he won a County medal with in 2001 for Edenderry.

As long as fact-finders uproot these strange and wonderful pieces of information, the psychics will roll-up the omens and tell us that history will repeat itself. This time though, there are other factors that differ.

The Edenderry team that reached the 95 decider had been knocking on the door for a while, having played in numerous semi-finals. In addition, aside from a great bunch of footballers, they had Cullen, who would go on to become one of the finest centre-backs in the Country and Brady, who really was a different class. These were two footballers, whose names could crop-up in a football discussion anywhere in the Country. It's no insult to the current Edenderry panel to state that they don't have two footballers of this calibre. There could well be a couple of gems in there that will grow into such footballers, but it's far too early to say. And perhaps that's the point where this Edenderry team might falter. The potential is there in abundance, but how much of it will be realised is yet to be seen.

To their credit, there is a group of youngsters here, along with five men that remain from the late glory years, that have transformed Edenderry over the course of a single season. From a team that struggled to win a Championship game for a couple of years, Edenderry have grown into the team that will challenge Clara and Rhode's recent dominance. So too will Ferbane, but that's for another day - probably not too far away. Having lost their first group game this year (to Pollagh) and rode their luck in the second, with a win over a luckless Tubber, the Reds have grown in stature. Wins against Tullamore and Ferbane followed with a narrow (and late) defeat to Rhode underlining their progress. On to the quarter finals and an annihilation of St. Rynaghs set-up a semi-final with an unbeaten Gracefield. In a sticky game, Edenderry emerged with an impressive 0-10 - 0-3 win. The strength in this team is two-fold - it comes in the form of personnel and also in tactics. The spine of the team has been well formed. At 3, 6, 8 & 9, 11 & 14 the Reds have game changers. They're particularly strong in the full-back and full-forward lines and the two are brought together by the tireless Richie Dalton and the cleverness of Basil Malone. Tactically, the Edenderry management team are getting things right too. On Sunday, expect them to either use Derek Kelly as a third midfielder or possibly deploy a sweeper (extra back) - of course, they could do both - trying to create space in front of the Clara full-back line for the pacey Stuart Cullen and Mark Young. Complimenting their talent and tactics, many of these Edenderry footballers have got used to winning at underage and in schools football and that too cannot be underestimated.

The Clara team that lines out on Sunday will play in their third consecutive county final - something that Clara have never done - so they enter the final with much experience. Clara's year though has been indifferent, generally quite heavily affected by a number of factors that saw them coming together really only for the first-time this year, all fit and available, for the clash with Rhode in the county semi-final. They looked in good shape and most importantly, had strength on the bench - something that was in stark contrast to earlier group games. They've also had some problems with form, but more recently seem to have addressed those, finishing strongly against Pollagh in a hard fought Quarter Final and producing their best performance in 12 months to beat Rhode. In a year where Clara have been beaten by Gracefield and drawn with both Walsh Island and St. Rynaghs, the common thread to emerge in those games was that they were keeping the scores down where it counted, but not putting them up at the other end. To their credit, they put the scores up in all the other games, while keeping it tight at the back - of course, fundamentally, that's what all teams set-out to do.

Like Edenderry, the spine of the Clara team is also strong. If they can't edge the battle up the middle, Clara will look to the wings for ball winners. Up front, they won't look to anyone in particular for scores, but will hope that they're spread amongst the forwards. Again, like Edenderry, Clara got things right tactically in the semi-final but expect them to look more orthodox for the final, with John Reynolds and Thomas Deehan around the square.

To win this game on Sunday, Clara must continue to be vigilant and disciplined at the back, expecting more space around them for the Edenderry forwards to exploit. They must work every bit as hard as they did against Rhode and most importantly, use the ball with the same level of economy - in other words, making every decision count for something. When we look upon this match in retrospect in the days that follow the final, we'll either comment that youth or experience was the deciding factor. My feeling is that Clara could have too much experience and although Edenderry's youth is a great thing, they may have a little too much for the time being. So, I'm going for Clara to win a tight and probably low-scoring game.

Be mindful of those omens though and the tolling bell. Amazing and unexpected things happen in football.

[west offaly power]

Lets all hope tommo deehan can put his "stamp" on the game on sunday as well as he did against pollagh

thats through untill he falls to the ground in a heap with a sore face again

[Plain of the Herbs]

Magpie,

Cheers for that analysis. I thought the whole week was going to by without a sensible word of a build-up about Sunday's Final on this site.

[kingscounty]

predictions clara 2-10 edenderry 0-07.

[Over The Black Spot]

Magpie, to my recollection, that's the first time I've read a post twice on this site. Without doubt the most informative, and objective, post I've seen on the site in my 5 or 6 years or so lingering in these parts.

Without wanting to seem like your fanclub..... keep it up!