THE TALK OF THE TOWN

Ennis is buzzing as Êire Óg go for second leg of rare Clare hurling and football double

- BY PAT NOLAN

THE town of Ennis has seen various iterations of GAA clubs over the years, and Stephen McNamara has a funny way of putting it.

"They've kind of moshed into each other, if that makes sense to you," laughs the Éire Og stalwart.

"Like, one club might have went broke on a Sunday and another one started on a Monday!"

Having won their first senior hurling title in 35 years last Sunday, Éire Óg are bidding for their first ever double when facing St Joseph's Doora-Barefield in the football final tomorrow.

Well, sort of.

A predecessor of the club, Ennis Dalcassians, won a double back in 1929.

Later, when there was no senior ball in the town, they joined with Doora-Barefield as Faughs, winning four titles in the '40s and '50s.

Éire Óg were founded in 1952 but the Faughs were revived in 1994, again when neither club was in senior football ranks, and duly won the championship that year.

When Éire Óg won the intermediate football title the following year, that was the end of the Faughs.

Doora-Barefield came strong to win an All-Ireland hurling title in 1999, but football is currently the stronger code in a club that sits on the outskirts of the county town.

"When the Faughs amalgamated that time [in 1994], to think that these two teams will be playing the county senior football final, Éire Óg and Barefield, it would be unthinkable," says McNamara.