This article is from page 56 of the 2008-06-03 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 56 JPG
FOR dual clubs, it is always hard to get the balance right. How do you de- ploy resources to seriously compete in hurling and football, without one team harming the prospects of the other?
Clubs like Doora Barefield and Wolfe Tones have an obvious prefer- ence for hurling. In Eire Og, the split is more evenly proportioned. And O’Callaghan’s Mills? Hurling would probably win a majority, but, when you’re junior football team starts winning county titles and contest- ing Munster finals, it tilts the balance oy sateayy eel
The club’s chairman Joe Cooney, though, hopes that under new man- ager Pat Donnellan, the club’s hurlers can steal back some of the limelight.
“Pat Donnellan, is totally commit- ted to the hurling. He’d be hoping that they give more commitment to the hurling this year than the foot- ball, which in fairness to the last cou- ple of years they did give great com- mitment to the football. We achieved great things in the football and we’d be hoping now over the next year or two to try and turn around and achieve those things in the hurling as well.”
Cooney juggled the dual roles last year of chairman and manager when,
after a very promising start, the Mills failed to qualify from their group.
A win over Wolfe Tones was fol- lowed by a disappointing loss to Eire Og. The signs were encouraging ear- ly on against Sixmulebridge, but, the Mills waned and ended up ten-point losers.
The two months gap between the first and second rounds, Cooney believes, checked any momentum, gained from beating Wolfe Tones.
“The thing was, and I said it after the Wolfe Tones game, the big break wasn’t going to help us. When you have to wait ten weeks for your next match, it wasn’t going to help us and it didn’t help us. It was very hard to keep it going for the ten weeks. We were just flat against Eire Og, we weren’t up for it”.
Keeping interest and enthusiasm alive during the idle summer weeks, is an age old problem for club man- agers. The problem is keenly felt by rural clubs, battling against declin- ing population numbers.
“It’s definitely getting harder and even talking to other clubs around east Clare, they are finding it hard to keep training going. The numbers are not there. It’s getting tougher, year after year.”
Cooney readily accepts, that in a group that includes Kilmaley and Clarecastle, the Mills are up against
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But there are reasons for optimism. Patrick Donnellan has emerged as a hurler of county standard. Conor Cooney, Joe’s son and the middle brother of the three Cooney boys on the Mills team, started corner back on the Waterford IT team, that won the Fitzgibbon cup.
If they need any extra reason to be- lieve, the Mills need only have a chat with the neighbours.
“Without a doubt Tulla were an ex- ample to all clubs in East Clare, with what they achieved last year, without a doubt. There is great credit due to them. No one gave them a chance halfway through the championship, of not alone winning the champi- onship, but even getting out of the group. When Killaloe beat them in Scariff, everyone wrote them off. They are an example to every club in east Clare. My belief is this year’s championship will be very keenly contested, on account of what Tulla did last year. Other clubs are saying to themselves, if Tulla can do it, why can’t we do it”.
Role models within and around them. Time again for the Mills to walk the line.