Men from the valley aiming to scale peak

Munster Club SFC final: Ian O'Riordan talks to team manager Seán Guiry about The Nire's feat in reaching the Munster football final

Sunday's Munster club football final brings the curtain down on the 2006 GAA season and also presents one of the more intriguing games of the year. Intriguing in the sense that Waterford champions The Nire - who not long ago couldn't field a team and had yet to win a match in Munster - play Kerry's Dr Crokes - the former All-Ireland winners who boast county stars Colm Cooper and Eoin Brosnan.

It's the proverbial David versus Goliath contest; in other words, a match The Nire are given little chance of winning. Should they prevail at Páirc Uí Chaoimh they'll undoubtedly have masterminded one of the great upsets in history, which of course was the exact situation when David conquered Goliath.

It took a little bit of research to establish where exactly The Nire are coming from. They originate from the Nire Valley, where the river Nire tumbles down from the Comeragh mountains to the river Suir, near Newcastle in Tipperary. The club itself is located in the area of Ballymacarby, just inside the Waterford border, and as a team they're still known as "the men from the valley."

Needless to say, the pool of players in the area is small, and the club currently possesses just 30 adult players, plus a junior team. Team manager Seán Guiry remembers the day when they couldn't field a senior team at all, although he endured the lean years and after acting as manager for over a decade he's now looking forward to the biggest day in the club's history.

"I've been there since 1993," explains Guiry, "the year we won our first Waterford title. I took two years out to manage the county side but I've been back managing the club ever since, which is probably a bit of lunacy on my behalf."

Guiry was also a substitute on that 1993 team (actually dropping himself for the final), although they didn't manage to play in Munster that year as their championship wasn't completed in time. It was the following year, when they successfully defended their county title, that they made their first venture outside the county.

"I remember that year travelling down to play the Cork champions, Castlehaven, and that was definitely the biggest day in our history. But Sunday will be bigger again. We've a very nice set-up, with everybody united here, from the secretary to the selectors to the supporters. Someone said to me that we're in the last five teams in Ireland, and for a small club like ourselves that's not so bad.

"But look, we're not just going down there for the spin. We're desperate underdogs and rightly so, but we'll stick to our own plan. We haven't even thought about what it would mean to beat Dr Crokes. We'll just go down to play our own game. How good we'll be on the day I don't know but we'll give it our best shot."

The Nire won their third Waterford title in 2000, then lost three county finals to Stradbally - each time after a replay - before winning back the title this year. Having beaten Tipperary champions Aherlow in the Munster semi-final last Sunday - following a replay - Guiry believes the team are now approaching something of a peak.

"The very fact that we've made the Munster final," he says, "obviously means we've the best panel we've had at this level anyway. And the team has been through a lot over the last few years. After losing those three county finals they were determined to bounce back, and determined to give it a good cut afterwards.

"So they've a fair bit of experience. The average age is probably around 25, but then we've a few who are probably hanging on for their last year as well. But then we've four under-21s as well. But I think one of the big differences from other years is that we have 16, 17 or 18 players all at the same level. We don't have any big name or names, but we have a very balanced team."

Central to the team are the four Walsh brothers - Shane, Martin, Ger and Pat - along with team captain Brian Wall. Dr Crokes, however, are among the most formidable opposition at club level. Having beaten Cork champions Nemo Rangers in their semi-final, and with their manager Pat O'Shea recently installed as Kerry manager, their confidence heading to Páirc Uí Chaoimh couldn't be much higher.

No Waterford side has ever won the Munster title and The Nire will clearly be hoping luck is on their side: "Ah, we'll probably need more than just luck," admits Guiry.