Ardfinnan hoping to complete amazing journey with Tipp county final win on Sunday

On Sunday next for the first time since 2010 a team other than Clonmel Commercials or Loughmore / Castleiney will be crowned Tipperary Senior Football Champions, but no one in their right mind at the start of the year would have given Ardfinnan any chance of lifting the O’Dwyer Cup at the end of this campaign.      

Even the most incurable of Ardfinnan optimists with such a vision would have been certified after their opening Group 4 game defeat at Cahir to Clonmel Commercials by a gargantuan margin of 24 points - 3-22 to 0-7. Following such an inept display it looked odds-on that once again, as has been their lot for the past couple of years, Ardfinnan would be fighting  to retain senior status via the relegation play-offs.

And yet, somehow, following that landslide loss on Sunday, 22nd April, six months later Ardfinnan are on the verge of putting Lazarus to shame, should they manage to triumph over Moyle Rovers on Sunday next in Semple Stadium.

 By the time their second Group 4 game came around in late August, Ardfinnan had installed former Tipperary senior football manager, John Evans at the helm, and almost instantly the Kerryman worked the oracle. That day at New Inn ‘The Maroons’ edged out Eire Og Annacarty by 1-11 to 0-12, a vital win with the all-important goal coming in the second half from debutant Darragh O’Leary.

The significance of that victory was immense, almost immeasurable, from an Ardfinnan perspective. It instantly removed the threat of relegation and that strangling perennial pressure of recent years. Positively it also gave them a chance of qualifying for the knock-out stages, but most importantly it seemed to instil a belief and confidence that has been sadly absent from Ardfinnan jerseys for quite some time.

Moyle Rovers hoping to put three county final defeats behind them

Three weeks later on Sunday, 9th September, Ardfinnan nailed down their place in the last eight for the first time in  years with another surprise win over favourites Aherlow Gaels in Cashel by 2-9 to 2-5. 

A powerful first half performance that day rocked the West Tipperary side and fully utilising the strong wind at their backs Ardfinnan went to the break leading by 2-6 to 0-1, with the goals  from Daniel O’Regan and Brian Lonergan.

Aherlow Gaels threw the proverbial kitchen sink at John Evans’ side for the second 30 minutes but the spirit of yore that always went with Ardfinnan sides was evident again and they were not to be denied their deserved place in the last eight.

What had looked a hopeless cause for Ardfinnan after the 24-points collapse to Clonmel Commercials in April  had somewhere along the road between Cahir and Cashel undergone some kind of a Pauline conversion. The performances had improved beyond recognition right throughout the field  and football followers all over  the county were taking note of the resurgence.

That trend continued in their quarter-final against Ballyporeen, again back at Cahir, when Ardfinnan put in a virtuouso second half display to crush their fellow South Tipperary side  by 0-22 to 0-9. For Ardfinnan Gerry Cronin put in a storming display in the middle of the field with Billy Hewitt, Dylan Nugent, Michael Barlow and Brian Lonergan  too hot to handle for the  Ballyporeen backs.

Most pundits had been predicting a much tighter affair and were much surprised at the ease in which ‘The Maroons’ had booked their way to the last four.

The semi-final pairings saw Clonmel Commercials against Moyle Rovers, and Ardfinnan  tackle Loughmore. The form books would have suggested the old duopoly to continue their merry way to another county decider. While some suggest Moyle Rovers were somewhat let off the hook  in the  semi-final with a late goal, there is no doubt that Ardfinnan fully earned their victory.

The script and the formbooks were proved hopelessly inaccurate on Sunday week last at Holycross when Ardfinnan stunned the Mid Tipp side - and the football world - with a fighting display to overcome the 1/9 favourites Loughmore/Castleiney. It was an upset of magnificent magnitude for Ardfinnan, and perhaps one that only the imaginary  guy who had been certifed last April could have again foreseen. Ardfinnan were deservedly back in a county final for the first time in 13 years  at the end of chest-thumping 60 minutes of bottomless bravery from the fighting Villagers.  

The winning   display was  brimful of character in which fortune favoured the brave. Led by captain Johnny Ryan, there were fine performances also in this huge fillip for the final from the likes of Gerry Cronin, Sean Nagle, Colm O’Shaughnessy, Michael Barlow, Daniel O’Regan and Michael O’Sullivan.

The signicance of the victory over Loughmore won’t be lost on Ardfinnan either. Their last county final success was back in 2005 when they again surprised the football fraternity with a victory in Cashel over then reigning county champions, Loughmore, by 1-5 to 1-4. It was a day when one of their most famous sons, Peter Lambert, scored the winning point seven minutes from time to bridge a 31-year gap since they had last burned a bonfire  on The Green. It gave the Ardfinnan stalwart, then 37, his fully deserved and coveted county senior  medal at last, at the end of a glittering football career.

A second half goal of sheer class from Hugh Bannon had put Ardfinnan in the driving seat that day only for the never-say-die Loughmore to strike back late with a goal of their own. But the history  was to belong to Ardfinnan.

At this stage, with only Moyle Rovers now in the way of  denying them what would be a contender for sports story of the year, we all would be mad to dismiss Ardfinnan’s chances of crowning an unbelievable journey with more history on Sunday next.