FORWARD THREAT…John Martin believes Cushendall have enough up front to cause an upset

IT’S around this time in February that I get my first dose of UTS of the year. The Ulster Tinted Specs affliction hits me at various times throughout the year when I convince myself that victory over southern opposition is all but guaranteed for the Ulster representatives.

Today at Páirc Tailteann, Navan, Cushendall fly the Ulster flag against Galway champions Sarsfields in the first of the All-Ireland senior club semi-finals. In the second semi-final, overall favourites Na Piarsaigh of Limerick face Wexford’s Oulart the Ballagh at Thurles.

It’s easy to get carried away with the expectation, enthusiasm, energy and positivity that surrounds the build-up to an All-Ireland semi-final. This year is no different, although Cushendall, in the media at least, have been very measured in their rhetoric.

It’s different to two years ago when they won the Antrim title and immediately started talking about winning All-Irelands. They ended up getting beaten by Portaferry in the Ulster Championship. This time round, the talk is more deferential, though crucially it’s full of confidence, both in the ability of the squad and in the fullness of the club’s preparations for Saturday.

Challenge games against Cork, DIT, Dublin and Wexford have ended in defeats but have also highlighted areas for manager John McKillop to work on. In fairness, those games may not have added that much to his list as he would have had a fair idea of what he needs to tweak after the Antrim and Ulster Championship runs. His side have trailed in every championship game this year, and the relatively soft concession of three goals in the Ulster final won’t exactly have pleased ‘Smokey’.

However this may be a game that’s decided by the points tally rather than goals. Sarsfields are not a prolific goal-scoring team and averaged one goal a game in the four games in the knockout stages of the Galway Championship, and their semi-final win over Gort aside when they posted 0-21, they haven’t racked up big scores.

They got two goals in their 2-10 to 0-14 over Craughwell in the replayed Galway final. They had 2-6 of that posted by half-time so added just four points in the final 30 minutes. Both sides were surprise packages in Galway. This is Sarsfields’ first county title since 1997 and Craughwell were playing in their first final in 83 years. Those are typical Galway statistics – a team can come from eighth or ninth in the betting to win the championship.

It is reminiscent of Cushendall’s last encounter with a Galway side in the All-Ireland semi-final. Loughrea were the surprise packets of the 2006 Galway Championship and in February 2007 edged Cushendall out of the All-Ireland race on a 1-11 to 0-9 scoreline.

Much like Loughrea, Sarsfields have that Galway knack of combining to form a sum greater than their parts. They use the bench well and it was their subs that got them over the line against Craughwell, and although it was a team performance, Joe Cooney exerts an influence whenever he plays.

In the first half of the replayed final, Cooney lined out at left half forward but his team mates created the space for him to run at the Craughwell posts through the middle. This seemed to be the gameplan in the first half at least – get the ball to Cooney and let him run at the Craughwell defence. It paid dividends when he bagged the game’s first goal on 10 minutes and Cooney was then switched later in the game to a defensive role between the midfield and half back lines where he again proved the key operator.

It could make for an interesting day for Ryan McCambridge, or maybe Smokey will be tempted to bring Arron Graffin out to do a man-marking job on him. Either way, he will no doubt have worked on tightening up the Ruairi Og defence and if they can avoid leaking goals, they have a great chance of reaching the St Patrick’s day decider.

I’m predicting a low-scoring encounter, given the records of both teams and the windy and wet conditions forecast for Navan on Saturday. Cushendall have too much quality up front not to be in the shake-up against a side that is averaging 11-12 points per game. The bookies tell us differently of course but even allowing for the default position of the bookies in respect of Ulster teams, the 11-4 offered on a Cushendall win seems to me to be amazingly generous odds. Cushendall by four.

In the other semi-final, Na Piarsaigh look to be holding the aces. They are strong favourites for the Tommy Moore Cup and with justifiable reason. The Munster Championship produced some great hurling last year – although I would contend that the Ulster final was as good a game of club hurling as I’ve seen – and Na Piarsaigh were fully deserving of their title.

I expect them to have too much for the Wexford men who are making their first appearance at this stage of the competition.
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