THERE was but a wee bunch of cats’ whiskers only between the Rower Inistioge and Erin’s Own of Castlecomer in a championship relegation battle.
The game was akin to a meeting of warriors in the one-time Coliseum of Rome.
It was a case of last man, or in this instance, last men, standing as hurleys replaced spears and swords and the only chariots on view were part of a parish fleet that would carry the victors to a post-match thirst quencher.
The latter, for the victors would be more of a sigh of relief than any knees-up and for the losers there was the unfortunate experience of falling through a trapdoor to the intermediate grade.
The senior basement battle was in Clara GAA Complex and if the outcome were to be judged on passion and courage both clubs would have deserved to be spared the end of season fight for pride in bailiwick.
After honest efforts by both squads, it was Erin’s Own that lived to fight another season in what we might call the premier division.
Final score was 1-11 to 0-9, a low scoring game in which there were few frills but lots of hard work in pursuit of a survival kit.
With one life only left out of their precious collection of nine, the ‘Comer Cats enjoyed supping a platter of cream.
Sadly, for a gallant Rower Inistioge (RI), its season ended on a sour note.
We’ll meet again would probably have been the RI sentiments as they wished the North Kilkenny Club well upstairs.
The bonus for both camps was that they could avail of mechanically-propelled vehicles to get them to a few pints that would lead to post match enthusiasm that is alive and well in most GAA teams regardless of their current fortunes.
The big plus was that Green Party Minister for whatever, Eamon Ryan was not in charge of transport arrangements or the Clara road and environs would have been chock-a-block with bicycles.
That was perhaps a spin-off that spared tired limbs.
Life has its mercies.
