PREVIEW: Barrow Rangers look to bridge 35 year gap in Kilkenny junior final

It’s a novel pairing in this Saturday’s junior hurling decider as Barrow Rangers look to win a first crown in 35 years when they meet the O’Loughlin Gaels second team at UPMC Nowlan Park.

Barrow Rangers (Paulstown-Goresbridge) outfit landed junior crowns in 1982, 1988 and 1990 but since then it has been a barren run for the club with their only final appearance coming in 2010 when they lost by three points to John Lockes (Callan).

Prior to this year, their last semi-final came in 2019 when, lo and behold, it was Saturday’s opponents that bettered them on that occasion before going on to win the overall title.

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The city club then competed at intermediate level for a couple of seasons before recently dropping back down to the third tier of Kilkenny club hurling.

It’s always difficult to get a gauge on second team form till the semi-final stage but this looks a near vintage O’Loughlins side on the face of it. St Patrick’s (Ballyragget) went into the last four clash on the back of wins over Piltown, Windgap and Conahy but they were well beaten by Eddie Kearns team with Alex Sheridan, Paddy Butler, Sammy Johnston and Ruaidhri Galwey some of the big performers on the Gaels side.

The O’Loughlins appearance in the final means Barrow Rangers are already assured of a place in next months Leinster junior championship but getting over the line here is all that is on their minds. Rangers go into the game with a real steel backing up their displays after penalties and extra-time success in the last two games over Emeralds and Galmoy.

With dangerous attackers in the likes of Joe Healy, Jack Kelly and Billy Hanlon, the side in blue and white have plenty of potential. On the face of it though O’Loughlin’s look a bit more rounded and expect them to prevail in the end.

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