The Stage is set for one of the most intense rivalries in Wicklow GAA as reigning Champions Rathnew will seek to retain the Miley Cup for 2018 but next door neighbours St Pats will have other ideas. With a whopping 46 County Titles between the sides neither side lacks for winning pedigree as Rathnew will look to make it title number 35 while 13 would be the lucky number for St Pats if they were to prevail on Sunday.

The proximity of both these Middle Eastern clubs geographically only adds to the spice of this Village versus Town Final pairing. Many households are now fiercely divided with some half-blood children even being decorated in blue & white only to be redecorated in the red & green all while being showered with bribes and affection to steer them towards supporting their Mammies or Daddy’s team.

We all know very well that there are many Rathnew & St Pats supporters who have their very own Romeo & Juliet stories and had been openly getting intimate with the enemy despite the severe punishments that the Village Elders & Town Council administer for such debauchery. But all intimacy has ceased since the 30^th of September when St Pats booked their place in the Renault Wicklow Senior Football Final. All passion has drained from these illegal relationships as her bedtime headaches have mysteriously returned while he stays out in the shed looking at footage of the Villages 2001 Leinster Final win until all hours while hoping she has went to sleep by the time he goes to bed.

The passion, the moans and groans and the cries of sheer ecstasy will not be wasted in a bedroom, they will be stored up to be released on County Final Sunday and not wasted on some Muggle you married or are in a loving relationship with! A massive game awaits and you can follow the action Live here at our Live Update Centre

https://billhillwicklow.com/2018/09/22/bill-hills-live-wicklow-sport-update-centre/

ST PATS

MANAGER: CASEY O BRIEN

Casey O Brien is a club legend in St Pats with an illustrious playing career in both codes as well as at Inter County Level putting him firmly in the legendary ranks in St Pats illustrious history. As a player Casey has won 3 National Hurling Leagues and an All Ireland B Hurling final in 2002. He has played Minor, Under 21 and Senior for Wicklow in both codes, 2 x Leinster Vocational School Winners Medals for Wicklow. Casey has won 2 Senior Hurling Championships with Saint Pats with the first coming in 1990 and Captained the winning side in 1992 made sweeter by the fact that his own father was playing in goal. His football career coincided with the rise of one of the greatest club teams this county has produced as he lost 3 county football finals to the great Baltinglass, one of which was in 1989 and Baltinglass went on to win All Ireland the following March. He won Leinster Minor and Under 21 Hurling medals with Wicklow and coming from a family steeped in the GAA it’s no suprise that he along with his father and brother Sean hold the incredible record of all having captained Wicklow to win Leinster Under 21 Hurling B titles.

No stranger to the management world, Casey has had many great victories most notably with the Wicklow Senior Hurlers. Casey took charge as the Wicklow Senior Hurling Manager from 2010 – 2015 and during that reign Wicklow got to successive Christy Ring Cup Finals in Croke Park in 2011 and 2012 where they lost to Kerry and a star studded London side respectively. He won 3 National Hurling Leagues as Manager in 2010, 2011, 2014 beating Louth, Derry and Down in 3 league finals and actually got to Division 1 but the league was revamped. This is Casey’s second stint in charge of Saint Patrick’s as football manager as in 2008 his side lost to Kiltegan by 1 point after a replay and in 2009 his charges lost to Rathnew by 2 points. Casey has also managed Carnew Emmets guiding them to a County Senior Hurling final in 2016 where they lost agonizingly after a replay against Bray Emmets. With his current side he has won Dunne Cup in 2017 and 2018 leads them to the Renault Wicklow Senior Football Final for 2018 on Sunday in Joule Park Aughrim at 3:30pm.

BACKROOM TEAM

TRAINER: Garry Duffy

SELECTORS: Damien O Brien, Ronan Connolly

TEAM ADMINISTRATOR: Alan O Brien

KITMAN: Richie “Chico” Murphy

PHYSIO: Adam Quinn

St Pats started their campaign with an unbeaten group stage run which saw them top Group 1 of the Renault Senior Football Championship with 4 wins over Baltinglass, Annacurra, Newtown and Blessington and a draw with eventual Semi Finalists AGB. Topping the group saw them through to a semi final clash with Mick Murray’s Hollywood side who had been in great from throughout the championship but Casey O Brien’s charges surgically took a very good Hollywood side apart and set up a mouth-watering final clash with neighbours and reigning champions Rathnew.

This side contains a large number of past and present Inter County players in the shape of Dean Healy, John Crowe, Padge McWalter, Paul Earls, Tommy Kelly, Conor Ffrench and Padraig Higgins while in Stephen Duffy they have the current second placed Top Scorer in this years Championship. Casey O Brien has instilled a serious amount of steel into this talented St Pats side and young players like Paul O Brien and Ciaran McGettigan have been in tremendous form in this campaign and will pose a serious threat to the Rathnew rear guard. St Pats also  have probably one of the most unheralded back 6 in the game and this unit have gone about their business without any fuss and the destination of the Miley Cup will hinge heavily on how this unit cope with the experienced and deadly Rathnew attack. They say behind every good man there’s a better woman but St Pats have a less female looking great of their own in goalkeeper Colly “Chimp” Byrne who is as good a keeper as you will find in County Wicklow. St Pats possess all the weapons to take the game to Rathnew and by Sunday evening we should know if their artillery was heavy enough to break the Rathnew grip on Wicklow Senior Football.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

RATHNEW

MANAGER: HARRY MURPHY

Legendary Manager Harry Murphy has led Rathnew to 8 Wicklow Senior Titles and eleven County Finals as Manager as well as that famous Leinster Final win in 2001 and was a Selector on the 1996, 97, 98 and 99 Championship winning sides. He takes charge in a final once again and is looking to win his 9th Senior Final as manager. He preceded another GAA legend Mick O Dwyer as Wicklow Senior Football Manager in 2011 in a tenure that saw him lead Wicklow until 2014. Harry is a master of the managerial craft and some of his best days have come at the expense of Dublin sides as he engineered the 2001 Leinster Final Defeat of Na Fianna along with a defeat of the Dublin Senior Football side in the O’Byrne Cup during his reign as Wicklow manager and the most recent being last years victory over the Star Studded reigning All Ireland Football Champions St Vincents who crashed out in Aughrim to his Rathnew side.

BACKROOM TEAM

SELECTORS: PJ O Connor, Anthony Mernagh

KITMAN: Joe Kavanagh

STATS: Richard Kavanagh

PHYSIO: Clifford Murphy

Harry’s backroom team are made up of a wealth of experience in Anthony Mernagh who was on the 8 in a row winning side and also a key player on the Leinster winning team of 2001 and he was a county stalwart playing many a game for Wicklow.

PJ O Connor brings a wealth of experience having played in the 90’s and has many a championship medal and has been a long and proud servant to Rathnew GAA club for many many years.

Kitman Joe Kavanagh has been with Harry and his selectors for the last 2 years having been in involved with many Rathnew teams. Joe has everything organised from jerseys to footballs to water bottles, bibs, cone’s etc on the pitch for training so the management team can worry about the job at hand and this attention to detail is exactly the same on match day’s.

Statsman Richard Kavanagh has won Junior B honours in 2010, Junior A honours as captain in 2012 and an Intermediate in 2015 and has been on many a winning Senior panel. Richards football days were cut short due to injury but being a top club man he togged out to give the junior team a dig out this year when nubers were tight and he trained the Junior B team to win the championship last year. As stats man he keeps track of everything going on in the game and if needed through out the game the management might ask how the team is doing in certain departments of the game. Richard is also the man behind the score update’s on the Rathnew Twitter page.

Physio Clifford Murphy is well known to most players across County Wicklow as there’s a strong chance that if you’ve kicked ball in this County, Clifford has rubbed some part of your anatomy. Clifford is not just a great physio but he was also an accomplished footballer and was on the Rathnew team in the late 90’s and in the early 2000’s and has many a championship medal. Clifford’s exceptional talent as a Physio seen him hold the position of Wicklow’s County team Physio in the past.

Rathnew started their campaign with an unbeaten group stage run which saw them top Group 2 of the Renault Senior Football Championship with 4 wins over Avondale, Kiltegan, Bray Emmets and Eire Og and a draw with eventual Semi Finalists Hollywood. They would later defeat Hollywood in a table top playoff game that sent them straight through to a semi-final clash with AGB where they went on to secure a one point win over Damien Redmond’s high octane side in a game where they showed all the reasons why they have been such a successful side for the last two decades to set up a mouth-watering clash with St Pats.

You don’t need Bill to tell you of the sheer talent that makes up this side and the fighting spirit that flows through the veins of the Village men. In Leighton Glynn they have arguably one of the greatest footballers in the Country never mind the County and throw in the great Damien Power, James Stafford and Nicky Mernagh and you have more medals than a North Korean General and the most perfect set of football experience you’ll find throughout Ireland. If that’s not enough firepower then add Theo Smyth, Paul Merrigan, Jamie Snell, Ross O Brien all currently on the Wicklow Senior Football panel and that’s just the start of it. Eddie Doyle, Jody Merrigan and Mark Doyle are three of the best scoring forwards in Wicklow football and the steel of the Dual Stars John Manley and Danny Staunton only adds to the headaches facing the St Pats management. A special mention must go to the find of the Championship JT Moorehouse who is very much on course for young player of the year and speaking of young lads, how could we not mention the Rathnew Colossus Peter Dignam from the famous Dignam family who are steeped in Wicklow GAA who mans the posts for the Village men.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

SPECIAL MENTION

The Legend that is Pat Mitchell will unfortunately miss his first County Final in 50 years on Sunday as he recovers from his operation and we would like to wish him a speedy recovery and we hope he knows that his presence will be sorely missed on Sunday. All the Best Pat from all at Bill Hill.

CHAMPIONSHIP TOP SCORER CONTENDERS

Kiltegan’s Seanie Furlong sits on top of the Wicklow Senior Football Championship Scorers List with a whopping 1-30 (33) scored but as Kiltegan exited the Championship at the Quarter final stage to AGB, he now faces an anxious wait to see if he will maintain his lead with the closest man still with the opportunity to overhaul him being St Pats Stephen Duffy who lies just 2 points behind while Rathnew’s Eddie Doyle is the closest Rathnew chaser sitting 5 points back.

STEPHEN DUFFY ST PATS (2 BEHIND)

EDWARD DOYLE RATHNEW (5 BEHIND)

THE TOP SCORERS WINNERS PRIZES:

A massive thank you to the Sponsors of the Wicklow Senior Football Championship Top Scorers, Katie Lowes, JJ Jewellers and Glam & Co who generously donated the prizes below for this years Top Scorers Prizes.

https://billhillwicklow.com/2018/07/28/katie-lowes-kiltegan-proud-sponsors-of-the-wicklow-senior-football-championship-top-scorer/

https://billhillwicklow.com/2018/07/25/jj-jewellers-proud-sponsors-of-the-wicklow-senior-football-hurling-championship-top-scorers/

https://billhillwicklow.com/2018/07/24/glam-co-rathnew-proud-sponsors-of-the-wicklow-senior-football-championship-top-scorer-2018/

COUNTY FINAL MAN OF THE MATCH PRIZE:

Thanks to MyFitt Blessington there is a Years Membership for MyFitt Blessington for this years Renault Senior Football Final Man of The Match

https://billhillwicklow.com/2018/07/27/myfitt-gym-blessington-proud-sponsors-of-the-wicklow-senior-football-championship-man-of-the-match/

We let you choose your Man Of The Match and the Player with the Most Votes will be deemed the Winner of the Years Membership for MyFitt Gym. Voting opens at 3pm and closes at 9pm.

PLAYERS PREDICTIONS

---

Darragh Fitzgerald (AGB)

Rathnew 1-10 St Pats 0-09

---

Conor McGraynor (Avondale)

Rathnew 2-08 St Pats 1-10

---

Ross Davis (Newtown)

St Pats 1-09 Rathnew 1-08

---

Seanie Furlong (Kiltegan)

Rathnew 2-08 St Pats 1-11

---

Marc Lennon (Bray Emmets)

Rathnew 1-10 St Pats 1-07

---

Stephen “Chester” Kelly (Eire Og)

Rathnew 0-15 St Pats 0-13

---

Mark Jackson (Baltinglass)

Rathnew 2-11 St Pats 1-12

---

Gearoid Murphy (Annacurra)

Rathnew 1-12 St Pats 0-13

---

Anthony McLoughlin (Blessington)

St Pats 1-12 Rathnew 2-08

---

Ciaran Tyrrell (Hollywood)

Rathnew 1-11 St Pats 1-08

---

[ss_social_follow]