No one could blame Tipperary football champions Fethard for being apprehensive about tomorrow's AIB Munster final against Castlehaven from Cork, in Fermoy at 2.00. Over the years, the club championship has been as dominated by Cork and Kerry sides as has its intercounty equivalent. Only Limerick, in the starstudded guise of Thomond College's All-Ireland winning team in 1978, have managed to break the mould in the province.
Naturally, Fethard don't see it that way. "I'm the club secretary," says Micheal McCormack. "You're hardly expecting me to say I think we'll lose." Club championships are unpredictable and this is among the reasons for Fethard's strong, albeit unlikely confidence. This year's Cork-Kerry shootout ended with Laune Rangers' bid for three successive Munster titles in tatters and underdogs Castlehaven homing in on a third provincial championship in nine years, despite losing the county final to Beara, whose divisional status barred them from the provincial and All-Ireland campaigns.
There have been undercurrents of controversy for the Cork club, as Niall Cahalane's disciplinary hearing for attacking the referee in last month's county final replay was finally concluded with a 12month suspension this week. Given his service to the club and the enduring quality of his play, Cahalane's absence affects the match profoundly.
"I'd like to say it's of no benefit to us," says McCormack, "but he was very good against Laune and he's a player I've admired down the years. But they're going to be motivated by his loss. There's no point in codding ourselves about that. I'd rate our ability at around 90 per cent, or even go to 95 per cent. But our fitness levels are 100 per cent.
"Where were Castlehaven before Larry Tompkins arrived? At least we're county champions - Tipp got a lot of slagging down in Cork over back door situations (qualifying for the All-Ireland hurling championship after losing the Munster final). Castlehaven will be favourites, but we see our own merits. We don't want to be like the teams that played Thurles Sarsfields in the Sixties (in Tipperary hurling championships) - beat before they even went out the gate."
Brian Burke is Fethard's bestknown player. With the club "since I was eight", he is a survivor of the 1984 Tipperary minor team which reached the All-Ireland final before losing to Dublin. He has had a long senior career, and toured Australia in 1990 with Ireland's victorious International Rules panel. He also tries to put Castlehaven in a context.
"Castlehaven have a lot of players that the public wouldn't particularly know about and who we wouldn't know about. We're the same, but we also have good players who aren't known because they can't give the time to intercounty football."
Fethard, at the heart of the game in the south of the county, are the elder statesmen of Tipperary football. Playing senior for 113 years, they have 20 county titles and, according to Micheal McCormack, the club is "the home of football" in the county.
Having survived a distracting couple of years, including a forced move while their pitch was levelled, Fethard have a new manager, Walty Moloney, and a feeling that their team, which has played together for a long while through all grades from under-12 to senior, has been refreshed for the challenge.
"A team gets predictable," says Burke, "but we have a new trainer and he's moved us around, which has refreshed the team. We've been on the go for the better part of 10 years and have four county championships. It's a challenge playing in different positions - I used to play midfield (he is now at centre forward) - and I think it's lengthened our careers.
"We have put in a big effort this year and are in our first Munster final. It's a great achievement, because the club is now the second most important competition in the country," he says.
Burke also points out that if Castlehaven are cut up about Cahalane's suspension, Fethard have their own emotional impulse. "I'd like to add something about Shay Ryan, who played with us in the league earlier this year before he went to work in the US during the horse season over there - he's with Coolmore Stud (John Magnier's operation which sponsors Fethard).
"He fell sick out there and was diagnosed with cancer, but he's now on the road to recovery. He came back on Tuesday and is togging out with us. It's symbolic more than anything, but he has it in mind to come back with us. We're a very tight-knit community and having him back means a lot to us."
In this intertwining of community and football which so characterises the club championships, Castlehaven, from their remote base between Castletownsend and Union Hall, will be familiar with the motivation of tight-knit communities and the imperatives of performing for a clubmate in difficulties. In this case, however, familiarity will breed a more cautious response than contempt.
