Grangenolvin on the Hunt' for Leinster glory
Grangenolvin captain Paul Huntingdon Photo: James Lawlor
With all three Kildare champions reaching Leinster semi-finals for the second consecutive year proving how strong the club scene is within the county, Grangenolvin captain Paul Huntingdon admits that a run in Leinster was always in his team’s sights.
Not that they took anything for granted in Kildare, they have had too many mishaps in the last few years for that to happen, but Huntingdon said once they were out of their own county that they were always ready to give Leinster a proper crack.
“We didn’t take our eye off our own Championship, we wanted to get that done first but there was talk at the start of the year that we looked back on a lot of the Kildare teams that had done well – Kilcullen, Ellistown, Milltown. We wanted to emulate them and maybe even go on to do what Milltown did a few years ago and get to an All-Ireland semi-final.
“All the clubs are doing well this year and it’s great to see. Our close neighbours Athy are going well in the senior. We were back in the pub after our own game last time and watching them on the television and cheering them on. There would be a lot of relations between the two clubs so I’m sure they would be shouting for us as well,” he said.
Grangenolvin do have history in Leinster. They reached a final in 2005 before losing to Ballinagor of Westmeath and a rematch 20 years later at the semi-final looked possible before Barcelona Gaels caused an upset in the quarter-final.
“That team is talked about within the club for the last 20 years. Not that they failed because obviously they won their own Championship in Kildare but they just couldn’t get over that line in the Leinster Final. We’ll be hoping to go one step further.
“We were actually hoping to get the Westmeath crowd because that was the team who beat the club in that final 20 years ago but it doesn’t matter, we’ll take it one game at a time anyway. Barcelona are here for a reason, they are no pushovers so they will have good players,” said Huntingdon.
St Brigids of Offaly and Wexford’s Cloughbawn have been put to the sword already and Huntingdon has enjoyed the challenge of pitting his wits against some Leinster’s best teams at this Junior grade.
“No game is going to be easy now, you’re playing every county’s best at our level. Especially St Brigids, you could tell even by looking at them that they had a couple of lads who were experienced. We did our research on them, they had a few ex county lads and a few who had underage experience with the county so they weren’t going to be any pushover, and you could see that, especially in the first half.
“The Wexford crowd were a dual club and they were fit, strong, young lads. I know we pulled away there at the start of the second half but we knew we were in a game there as well,” he said.
Huntingdon is a key cog in a well oiled defensive system in the Grangenolvin team that have become very accustomed to playing with each other.
“We have a lot of experience at the back. It’s probably been the same rotation of six or seven lads at the back there so we are all well used to playing with each other. Then with the forwards we have, we’re marking them every night we are down on the pitch and because they are so good they are bringing us on as well,” he said.
Former Laois inter-county star David Conway has come into the club this year as manager and Huntingdon said his fresh set of eyes, and experience of playing at the top level, have helped to bring on the team.
“His attention to detail is excellent,” said Huntingdon.
“He covers every part of the game. He was an inter-county forward but even for myself in the backs, he has little tips on how to position yourself if the man you are marking is maybe bigger, quicker, smaller, stronger, whatever. His background is teaching so he is a very good communicator. He doesn’t leave any stone unturned, I think he covers everything. We did all buy into it this so we didn’t mind the hours spent on video analysis,” he said.
There’s been a great buzz around the local community as the Grangenolvin club have enjoyed their best season two decades and Huntingdon is hoping to give them more to cheer about on Saturday.
“In Hawkfield there and then the game before as well, it was great to see so many blue and yellow jumpers and hats in the crowd. After the county final we were going around to the schools and things like that and you wouldn’t really realise how much it means to people who maybe aren’t involved in the club anymore and who you wouldn’t really see down at the field. We brought the cup around to a few houses and there were people who maybe can’t get down to the field anymore and who have grandkids and stuff like that and it was great to see how much it meant to them,” he said.
St. Brigid's Killashee (Longford) v Fighting Cocks (Carlow)
Glennon Brothers Pearse Park, 1.30pm
Grangenolvin v Barcelona Gaels
Manguard Park 2:30 PM
