History will be made at tomorrow's AIB Munster club football final at the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick. For the first time a club from Clare or Tipperary will win the provincial title. In the 28 years since the club championships were officially launched and the 34 years since the competition was first staged, only Thomond College in Limerick has ever broken the Cork-Kerry duopoly on this championship.
Both Moyle Rovers and Doonbeg have been this far before but lost to Kerry clubs en route to the All-Ireland. Otherwise the teams are different and at different stages of development.
Doonbeg are more experienced and reached their Munster final seven years ago. They boasted one third of the team - including captain Francis McInerney - which brought the county a fabled provincial title in 1992 and are bigger and more physical than their opponents.
Based on the further outskirts of Clonmel in the village of Lisronagh, Moyle is named after the local river and has a rural catchment area in a farming community. "Some new houses have been built out here in the last 10 years," says club chairman Seamus Norris, "but the club won't feel the benefit of that for a while." Moyle won its first county title three years ago and has been senior since the early 1960s.
The Tipperary champions are on the crest of a wave at the moment. Derry Foley played with distinction for Ireland in October's International Rules series against Australia and has long been regarded as one of the best centrefielders in the country.
Only eight days ago, corner forward Declan Browne was presented with the county's first football All Star after a summer which ended with him the top scorer in the championship.
Aside from such celebrity they are favourites going into this match because they defeated Cork champions Bantry Blues in a demanding semi-final on a gluepot surface in Dunmanway. Their more forward-oriented gameplan isn't at its most effective in December, but it gives them an edge.
Coach Jim Cahill is keen to play down the impact of Foley and Browne. "We have top-class players but the success so far has been built on teamwork and fitness. We know that Declan, in particular, will be well-marshalled on Sunday, but I'd be hoping that the lesser-known players will take it on in those circumstances."
Their build-up has been disrupted by a serious injury to experienced centrefielder John Owens who now awaits an operation on his cruciate ligament in the New Year and who will take no further part in this year's championship even if Moyle go the distance to the St Patrick's Day final.
Owens is an immensely influential figure in the team. The son of a bank manager, he had a well-travelled childhood playing schools' football for St Colman's in Newry, juvenile in Leitrim and minor for Tipperary before playing senior in New York and for Leitrim. He has county medals from three separate counties.
"It's a terrible disappointment," says Cahill. "John has given so much. It's almost like a death in the family. But the team will really want to pull it off for him, it's a big motivation." Cahill doesn't believe that coming from Tipperary constitutes a major obstacle to building confidence in the team. In recent years, Clonmel have taken Dr Crokes of Killarney to a Munster final replay and beaten Austin Stacks. Only last year Fethard reached the final and lost to Castlehaven after captain Brian Burke missed a crucial penalty.
In Moyle's case experience at the top has been more bruising. Three years ago, Laune Rangers beat them soundly in the provincial final. "We were very badly beaten but we're more mature now," says Cahill. "We've been playing together since and have improved our ball skills and our gameplan. We know what it's like to be beaten."
Moyle's gameplan is predictable: to move the ball into the forwards as quickly as possible and service the game's most explosive corner forward.
"We'd be hoping to give Declan Browne good-quality ball. He can feed off scraps but the plan is obviously to keep him well-supplied. The intention is to play it direct to our midfield. Our goalie (Seamus Delahunty) has a good kick-out and is accurate so he can find the midfield and they can feed it into the forwards."
The Gaelic Grounds' surface wasn't exactly firm for last weekend's club hurling final and after a wet week, it hasn't, according to Cahill, "got any drier", but despite Doonbeg's more obvious suitability for heavy going, Moyle aren't complaining.
"We make allowances for meteorological and underfoot conditions," says the coach, "but we won't complain at being still in the competition. It would be lovely to play on a dry sod but that's the time of year the championship's played. You can't do anything about it."
To the outside world, there may be great romance in the two counties never previously having won a Munster championship but for Doonbeg and Moyle the occasion is about winning.
"This is our greatest chance to win the title and for the people who've put so much into this club over the years, we'd love to do it," says Cahill. "If we are beaten on Sunday, it will be by a better team. They're not going to leave the game behind them or let the occasion get to them."
