FROM NARROWLY AVOIDING relegation in 2022 to fighting for position at the summit of Wexford senior hurling, Oylegate-Glenbrien are on the verge of breaking new ground.
— Oylegate-Glenbrien GAA (@OylegateGAA) August 14, 2023
Home of Wexford inter-county duo, brothers Damien and Shane Reck, Oylegate-Glenbrien have won three intermediate county titles since 2012. But maintaining their progress at the top table has proven difficult. In 2018, they reached the semi-finals of the senior championship only to succumb to the drop back to the middle grade the following year.
They climbed back up in 2021, beating Bunclody in the final, and this time they’re aiming to make it stick at senior level. Tomorrow they will contest the senior county final for the first time since 1963.
“There’s plenty of bunting up in the village and around the country roads as well,” Oylegate-Glenbrien secretary Séamus Heffernan tells The42 about the local excitement ahead of their county final against Naomh Éanna of Gorey in Wexford Park.
“I see flags on houses that you wouldn’t associate with being interested in the club. We’d have a core of people who go to all our games but we get a good turnout at our senior games.”
Oylegate-Glenbrien is an amalgamation club, and have been united under the one flag since 1946. As individual sides, they picked up moderate success through the years. Glenbrien won back-to-back senior championships in 1915 and 1916. They both won junior county titles too before coming together to form one unit that would go on to conquer the Wexford championship.
Patrick Nolan, a three-time All-Ireland-winning goalkeeper with Wexford, was the captain of that Olyegate-Glenbrien team that won in ’63. He passed away in 2021, but Heffernan estimates that there are 13 surviving members of that team are still alive.
“We’re organising to bring all those players into Wexford Park and get them to sit together in the Ard Chomhairle section on the day of the final,” he says about the touching gesture in store on Sunday.
“At the time (in 1963), we had a few players from the Ballyhogue club. By coincidence, Ballyhogue are playing in the junior final this weekend and hopefully that’s a good omen.
“We had a reunion for them in the spring time and it was a really enjoyable night. We had one for them 10 years ago when it was 50 years since the ’63. They’re all still friendly.
“I would have played with some of the ’63 fellas in the ’70s and I knew them very well. Some of them were friends of mine. Patrick Nolan was my childhood hero and I played with him eventually. He was a sub on the Wexford team that won the All-Ireland in 1956 with the Rackards.”
Coming into this final, Oylegate-Glenbrien picked up vital wins against the defending champions Ferns St Aidan’s in the quarter-final and St Anne’s in the semi-final. Along with the Recks, there are other players with county hurling experience who have contributed to their results. Former Wexford forward Podge Doran hit 1-3 in the semi-final. Their joint-captain, and top-scorer, Séamus Casey pointed the way in both of those victories, chalking up 1-9 in the quarter-final, and 1-12 against St Anne’s.
Casey has been involved with Wexford panels in the past, and was cast as a sub-goalkeeper while Davy Fitzgerald was at the helm, although he never played there for the club.
There was seven points between Oylegate-Glenbrien and St Anne’s in the final-four tie as Darragh Furlong and Wexford hurler Liam Óg McGovern were both dismissed for the losing side. But Heffernan is confident that his club were on the charge to victory when both sides had their full compliment on the pitch.
“They’re playing really well,” Heffernan says assuredly. “They drew with St Anne’s in the round-robin stage and beat Faythe Harriers. We played Naomh Éanna in our first game and they beat us that day. But we’re playing much better now.
“Gorey would be the favourites. They were tipped to win it at the start of the year. People would have been saying Oylegate would be doing well to avoid relegation.”
Another factor in Oylegate-Glenbrien’s current run is their manager Des Mythen. Originally from the famous Oulart-The-Ballagh club, Mythen came into the position with 10 senior county medals. The players are earning the benefits from his successful experience.
“It makes a difference listening to somebody who has been there and done that. You can see the Oulart style of play in the Oylegate lads.
“It’s a real possession team game. Oulart were always brilliant at finding their men and they had a great understanding of each other. You can see that rubbing off on the Oylegate lads.
“I think they use the ball better [under Des] and play for each other better. We played more as individuals and now we play more as a team really.”
Six decades is a long time for a team to go without the stamp of senior superiority. And after a decade of drifting over and back on the senior/intermediate divide, Oylegate-Glenbrien’s ambition is to cement their place among Wexford’s hurling elite.
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