Having been defeated in the last two senior hurling semi finals, many could be forgiven for believing that St Oliver Plunkett's had missed their chance of reaching their first ever county final. However, clubman Ciaran McKenna strenuously disagrees with that theory and is confident that the current crop of players can deliver the biggest title in Westmeath club hurling. During the nineties, St Oliver Plunkett's swept all before them at underage level, winning at every grade consistently and the general consensus among the club's faithful and indeed the hurling fraternity within the county was that it would not be too long before the town team would be delivering at adult level. Nonetheless, the club is still awaiting its first ever appearance in a senior hurling final and Ciaran is in no doubt that goal can be achieved sooner rather than later. "There is no reason why this current group of lads can't reach and indeed win a county final. In the last few years they have beaten the best in the county and were just unlucky when it came down to the semi finals," said Ciaran. "Maybe, it was a lack of experience or something like that, but I firmly believe that they have the talent to go all the way. The defeat in the last two semi finals will have been a good learning curve for them and they say you have to lose one to win one." Over the course of the past four years, St Oliver Plunkett's have been tipped as dark horses to win the senior championship and their odds have shortened every year. There is no doubting the club's pedigree and with some of the finest hurlers in the county at their disposal, there is no reason why Plunkett's can't reach their holy grail. Players like the Gavins, the Curleys and Seanie O'Leary would walk onto any side in the county and would be a massive shame if these lads ended their careers without success at adult level. One thing that the current side does have is youth as they are still a relatively young team and are learning all the time. Under the guidance of Eddie Casey for the past few years, the team has certainly made huge strides in the senior ranks and no one wants to play them. Ciaran, who was a selector with last year's side and was also chairman of the club's minor board, is in no doubt that with a bit of luck, Plunkett's can go all the way. "You need a bit of fortune in the Westmeath senior hurling championship. There are about five teams capable of winning the title and that includes ourselves. You seen how results went last year and anyone could have won it, although Clonkill came good at the right time and deserved to win." Last year's campaign began with Plunkett's facing defending champions Raharney in the opening round. The result of the first round matches meant that the defeated sides went into the 'losers' group and the winners faced off against each other. The town team signalled their intentions early on, by recording a five point win over Raharney and thus confining them to the losers group for the remainder of the campaign. Plunkett's on the other hand would face Clonkill, Lough Lene Gaels and Crookedwood for a place in the semi final. The first match of the group saw Casey's charges play Clonkill and in one of their best performances of the year, the green and whites earned a moral boosting four-point win to set them up nicely for the remained of the campaign. "To beat Clonkill was a massive boost for us as they are one of the top sides in the county for the past few years and they have some excellent hurlers in their side." Lough Lene Gaels were the next opponents and once again the saints came through with flying colours winning by a goal, which guaranteed them a place in the last four. "The lads were very confident having won the first two matches, but we wanted to top the group and needed to beat Crookedwood to do that. Training had been going really well all year and the players were really up for the championship." The Wood were comfortably seen off by eight points to preserve Plunkett's 100% record and go straight through to the semi finals where they once again would face Clonkill. "We did not fear playing Clonkill; because to win the championship you have to beat the best and there was no doubt that we had the confidence to beat them." However, things did not go right for Plunkett's on the day and although they got off to a great start, the Loughegar outfit took over in the second half and swept aside the challenge of their opponents to win by seven points, which was a devastating blow to them. "Of course, losing was terrible, but the manner in which we lost made it worse. The lads didn't do themselves justice on the day and everyone knows that they can play a lot better than that. We gave away silly frees and at one stage gave out to the referee who move the ball forward and Brendan Murtagh blasted the ball to the net, which really knocked us back." The 2007 campaign is now in the past and it's a case of look to the future for the Plunkett's players and Ciaran is convinced that they will be back as strong, if not stronger for the 2008 campaign. "The same bunch of lads is still there and the younger lads will be more experienced and stronger, so there's no reason why they can't at least reach the final. They are still in with a shout and with Eddie at the helm, they have someone who is passionate about the club and his enthusiasm rubs off on the players." Ciaran revealed that the club has still a strong underage structure in place and although he admits that they have not had as much success in recent years as they had in the nineties, there are still plenty of positives to take. "We have good numbers at all grades and our under-16 and minor teams done very well last year and we're hoping that they can bring us success this year. There are many hard working people in the club who devote their time to the underage teams and without them, it would be an impossible task." Tweet

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