This article is from page 60 of the 2008-07-08 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 60 JPG
THE evolutionary rise of Ennisty- mon in recent years has not only been fueled by their senior status, the foundation for the club’s newfound optimism also lies in their emerg- ing underage structure that has borne fruit over the last eighteen months. With many clubs struggling for num- bers in the modern climate, Ennisty- mon realised that restructuring was necessary at underage level in order to pay dividends for the future of the club as a whole.
Relegation from senior in 2004 was one of the sparks that jolted the club into action but crucially, they bounced back immediately to the top flight the folowing year and since then, the young senior side has pro- gressed with every passing year.
In addition, the groundwork done by Minor board Chairman JJ Crowe and his predecessor Conor Fitzgerald at underage level means that all the signs are positive for the future of the club.
2007 was a fitting return for all the behind-the-scenes work done in the club. In the adult ranks, they con- tested three finals at junior B, senior B and Under 21B and although the latter was their only success, the club
are quite content that they are mov- ing in the right direction. But it is at underage level that the rewards are finally being reaped. Ennistymon captured both the Under 12 and Mi- nor Division | titles last year but they also reached the penultimate stage of the Under 14 and Under 16 Division 2 championships. They have already contested the Under 16 Division two final this year and reached the Under 12 semi-final, as well as being un- beaten so far in the Under 14 cham- pionship. So what have been the key factors in this tranformation?
“First of all, we have very good structures in place” explains Minor Board chairman JJ Crowe, “and have a very good group involved from un- der 8 to minor. Every Wednesday, the under 8’s and under 10’s train and we could have sixty children in the field and that goes on from the first of May to the end of September. The club has done tremendously well at underage in recent years and each team is well organised. We also bring in outside coaches for teams at certain intervals to freshen teams up and we also get great support from the parents.”
“One major plus to us is that we have our own field and dressing
rooms now and that has given us a base to develop at all levels. I feel that overall the standards have im- proved immensely. The effort is be- ing put in and every team is com- petitive whether it is division one or division two and the fact that we have our own clubhouse and grounds, pro- viding a meeting place for everyone is a major help.”
The Minor Championship was the most celebrated title as it is the flagship event at underage level and Crowe admits that due to the con- tinuous success that their opponents in the final, Kilmurry/Ibrickane have had in recent years, winning that de- cider was a considerable accomplish- ment.
‘The minor victory gave us a great lift altogether. We were underdogs all the way but we still felt it could be our year and beating Kilmurry/ Ibrickane in the final was a major achievement for the club because we have so much respect for them for all their success at underage level. They are the model and they have been for the last ten or twelve years.”
Still, underage titles are no guaran- tee of adult success in the future but Crowe feels that the proper frame-
work is now in place right through- out the club and that all augers well for the senior side to make a major impact on the championship in the next few years
“It is a very young senior team and now you are going to have 15 or 18 new players boosting the senior panel after this year. All of them are very good footballers and we also provid- ed the captain of the county minor team Michael McDonagh.
“In our minor side last year, we had twelve players who were under 17 so I think it 1s going to take three or four years before we hit the senior championship with a serious chance of winning it.”
Qualifying from the group will be the senior’s initial aim in this year’s championship. If they can achieve that feat, it would be the first time that the club has qualified for a quar- ter-final since the group stages were introduced. It would be a significant step in their overall development plan and set the standard for their up and coming talent to emulate.