St. Barry's excitement at fever pitch as Sligo champions await

The excitement in Tarmonbarry has been at fever pitch for over a month now as they head into next weekend’s Connacht JFC semi-final against Sligo flagbearers, Ballymote Round Towers.

Both of their adults teams reached their respective county finals, and while the ladies’ team came up short in the intermediate final, their men’s team captured the Junior A championship for the first time since 2007.

As they embark on their Connacht journey against Ballymote Round Towers, St. Barry’s manager Colly Clarke has been encouraged by the bounce the county title has given his side. 

“There’s still a good buzz around, the boys are training well and in very good form thank god. We took five days off and the boys had a good party, but we’re back down to level ground now.

“In fairness you can’t fault them, we had 28 or 29 training Monday night and they were buzzing and want to make a statement in Connacht, you can’t blame them for that. They’ll have to really up it again now the next day,” the Clonguish native said.

Clarke was at the recent Sligo Junior A final replay, where Ballymote ran out three point winners after escaping with a draw in the first game. The Sligo champions had a convincing seven point win last weekend against Leitrim representatives, Bornacoola.

He explained where he believes Barry’s Sligo opponents strengths are on the pitch.

“I think Ballymote from looking at them the last night, they are big and physical and they’ve a lot of pace going forward.” 

Ballymote’s key player will be Sligo U-20 captain from their 2022 Connacht triumph, Jack Lavin, who kicked three points for Ballymote in the drawn final.

From his own playing days with Clonguish, Clarke knows the extra gear playing in a provincial club championship. He kicked three points in the 2009 Leinster club SFC when Clonguish beat Wexford side Horeswood.

He offered his insight into what will be required of his players to get over the line. “We’ll have to keep it tight and we’ll have to keep in the game. It’s another step up for the Barry’s lads from the county final. It’s all new to them, so we’ll have to try and keep in the game as much as we can and take it from there. We’ll need a lot of things to go right for us,” he said.

What Barry’s won’t be lacking at the weekend is fitness. They surged through extra time against Clann na nGael, outscoring them 0-5 to 0-0 to get over the line.

Clarke noted that in that game, “we got off to a shaky start, we had nothing on the board after 20 minutes, you won’t get away with that at the weekend.” However, he praised the resilience shown at the end of the game. “Fitness was very good in extra time. The subs were a massive impact off the bench and it probably won it for us in the end.” A veteran from their 2007 county title win played a massive role in their victory over Clann. 39-year-old John Murtagh was introduced in the final quarter of normal time and chipped in with four points. Clarke noted the big full forward “has been that kind of an impact player, even though he wants to start most games.

“He thinks he’s 18 or 19, but unfortunately age is against him. You can’t really fault him, anytime he has come on, he’s produced the goods,” Clarke said of his experienced forward.

Former Roscommon player David Keenan also rolled back the years, putting in one of the best performances in the final.

“David Keenan was very close to getting man of the match alongside Eoghan Diffley, so he adds an awful lot to it and you’re expecting the same from him at the weekend again.” Player of the match in the county final was Barry’s 22-year-old captain Eoghan Diffley who ran the show from centre-forward, kicking five top quality points. Clarke was highly complimentary of his young captain. “Eoghan Diffley was immense, he was just a credit the way he handled himself and he took some great scores. We’ll be looking for the same off him at the weekend again.” 

Despite having their place booked in Connacht before being crowned Junior champions, Clarke believes that victory will boost their prospect heading into the provincial tournament.

“If we had been beaten it would’ve been very hard to get the boys up for it, so we’re grateful for where we’re going in now as champions and we hope to see the county really rallying behind us now,” he concluded.