Tempers come to the boil between The Nire and Ballylanders in this year’s Munster Club Championship quarter-final.
WITH only days to go before Austin Stacks look to end a 38 year gap without a Munster championship, many will be looking at their opponents, Waterford champions, The Nire.
Hailing from a county which has never produced a Munster club winning side and is looked upon as minnows of Gaelic Football, it would be easy for Stacks to overlook the opposition.
But this is club football, a place where the lesser lights of our national games can also have their day in the sun. You only have to look at Carlow’s Eire Og, double All-Ireland success in the 90’s and most recently, St Galls of Antrim.
Focusing on The Nire, they will be most known to Kerry people as the side that gave Dr Crokes a nice rattle in the 2006 Munster Final. Crokes just about repelled a comeback by the Waterford men who scored six unanswered points in a dogged affair.
Nine of the men who ran out for The Nire that day will be on hand against Stacks, to bring some Munster Club Final experience to the table. Something The Rock players have none of.
The man to watch out for is Conor Gleeson, who is one of the most exciting young players to come through in both hurling and football over the last year or so. He was extremely impressive in the semi-final victory over hotly fancied Cratloe, scoring 1-2 from play.
Conor Gleeson, in action for Waterford against Cork in this years All-Ireland Minor Championship.
Prior to that, the dual inter-county minor forward, scored five from play in the Waterford county final and his goal against Limerick champions, Ballylanders, made sure The Nire got off to a winning start in Munster.
One thing The Nire certainly have over Stacks is inter-county experience. Between hurling and football, they have eight men playing for Waterford.
They have three players with the hurlers, most notably, Liam Lawlor, who has been a mainstay in the Waterford team over the last few years. On the football side of things they have five men with the Deise who play in Division 4 of the National League.
In a county where football, plays second fiddle to the small ball, The Nire, are blazing a trail for the code. Having the experience of running Crokes so close eight years ago will fuel belief they can go a step further this time around.
It being club football as well, anything is possible.
In the video below is Conor Gleeson in action for the Waterford minors this year
