Junior C football final: Lismire and Ballinacurra battle it out for honours

THE two competing sides in Friday’s Bons Secours Hospital Cork JCFC final at Páirc Uí Rinn (7.30pm) have had contrasting experiences in recent times.

On one side, Lismire have been regular visitors to the latter stages of the competition in recent seasons.

In 2020, they made the semi-finals, beaten by Lough Rovers, who went on to beat Freemount in the final. The following year, the Duhallow club made the decider but unfortunately they lost out to Araglen.

Then last year there was another last-four appearance against a city side, defeated this time by Lough Rovers’ neighbours Ballyhpehane, who also saw off Freemount in the final.

Lismire are made of tough stuff though and their resolve has only strengthened.

Wins over Grange, Rochestown and Gleann na Laoi have brought them to another decider.

Opposing them are Ballinacurra – unique in East Cork in only having a footballing operation, with the club’s squeezed position meaning that there were other, more attractive hurling propositions. Their manager Killian Harty makes no bones about the final appearance being “bonus territory” after some fallow years in the wake of their 2018 JBFC win.

Lismire are also a single-code entity. While they won four Duhallow junior A hurling titles in the 1980s, fortunes declined and an amalgamation with Tullylease didn’t bear fruit. However, there is still a benefit of sorts from having so many hurlers involved, according to manager James O’Neill.

“We’ve a couple of very good younger players after coming in,” he says. “They play hurling with Kanturk – we don’t have a hurling team – so they’re involved at a high standard and training very well.

“Sometimes it’s hard to work it but, I have to say, in fairness to Tom Walsh, he’s a pure gentleman and it’s great to deal with him. He couldn’t be sounder and there’s never a problem.

“We’ve a couple of fellas playing hurling with Freemount, one with Kilbrin, a fella with Newmarket, but in fairness they’re all good to train with us.

“There’s good discipline and no messing.”
Added to that is the impact that Kiskeam native Maurice Angland has had as coach.

“The boys wanted an outside man and we brought in Maurice,” O’Neill says.

He’s very good, a great players’ man and a brilliant attitude. They all get on well with him and they train right.

“He puts on good drills and Maurice played to a very high standard himself with Kiskeam so he knows his stuff. It’s working, I have to say.”

Whatever happens in the final, Lismire will have the defence of their Duhallow junior B title too look forward to. The county junior C ensures they have momentum built up, while playing strong teams in the division gives them a good exposure to a challenging level of football.

STEP FORWARD

“Most definitely, it’s great preparation,” O’Neill says. “Last year, we won the Duhallow junior B championship, we beat Kilbrin and it would have been a long time since we ever beat them, they’re a good football team.

“It was a big win, another step going forward. You’d have some very good second-string teams in there, the likes of Newmarket and Boherbue, so you’d be playing to a high standard.”

It’s all about trying to win more silverware on Friday, though O’Neill is expecting a tough encounter against a side that has already beaten Freemount, Lough Rovers, Grange and Abbey Rovers.

“We had a good game with Gleann na Laoi in the semi-final,” he says.

“They were tough – big and strong, but it was played in a good spirit and we were lucky to just get over the line in the end.

“We beat Ballinacurra last year, but the word is that they’re much-improved this year.

“You don’t meet bad teams in county finals.”

Ballinacurra manager Harty is hopeful that, whatever happens tonight, a strong foundation has been laid.

“We were just trying to keep the thing going,” he says, “we went from a good junior A team to junior C in a short space of time and the hurling disbanded.

Given our location and the fact that we’re one of the smallest clubs, if not the smallest, in Cork, good hurlers had other options and they took them.

“Last year wasn’t great but this year has been great for us. Usually at junior C, you’re getting fellas at the tail-ends of their careers for a few years but this is the first time in a while that we’re after getting six, seven or eight young fellas.

“They’ve been a great addition and you can see a future there when you’re attracting guys in the 18-23 bracket. Hopefully it’s something to build on.”