This article is from page 89 of the 2008-11-18 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 89 JPG
SUNDAY was a busy day for Kilmi- hil folk – the ladies who have blazed a trail to the All-Ireland final were up with the worm as they trained in Doonbeg; come mid-afternoon the men folk had St Finbarr’s in their sights at St Michael’s Park; in be- tween one of Kilmihil’s great players of the past was hoping to guide Crat- loe to a famous first ever minor title.
Colm Collins did just that as the labour of love that is his promotion of underage football in Cratloe came of age when the club scored the most significant win over their scant foot- ball history.
The manner of the win left Collins, who won minor, under 21 and senior
medals for Kilmihil in their golden period that straddled the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, stuck for words at the NGF
‘IT don’t know what to say,” was his first reaction. “I just want to catch my breath, wait a minute” he added before being spirited away to ex- plain away Cratloe’s ascension to the throne of minor football in Clare.
But before he could be taken away, Collins paused for a few seconds and inhaled everything around him – the sight of players and mentors from other Cratloe teams streaming on to the pitch to offer congratulations to him and his team.
Club chairman and former Mayor of Clare, Patrick O’Gorman; former club chairman Jack Chaplin; Col-
lins’ own son and county senior star Sean; Railway Cup football winner and a legend of the game in Cratloe, Kilmihil and wider county beyond Martin Murphy; Michael Considine and James Murrihy from Kilmurry Ibrickane who were county minor selectors with Collins in °08; parents of the players; many others too.
They all wanted to toast this fa- mous day for football in the parish. And, Collins, his fellow selectors Jerome Deloughrey, Ger Lawlor and Alan Neville deserved it. It was them and their players’ day.
“Tt’s great for the players,” said Col- lins when there was finally a bit of calm around him. “They’ve worked very hard for this and we’ve put in a great effort at underage over the past
few years. It’s a huge thing to win a minor championship and great for football in the club.
“Tt was a tough game and we knew that Ennistymon were going to be very hard to beat. I think the winning of the game for us was when Liam Markham went up in the forwards near the end. I can’t claim credit for the move, but that’s what won it for in
As Collins talked, everyone in blue started to drift towards the dressing rooms and scan upwards to the bal- cony where Bord na nOg Peil officer Joe Kelly had begun the process of handing the championship trophy over to captain and one of the heroes of the hour Liam Markham.
“The fact that Ennistymon won the
title last year means that no one will begrudge us this year,’ added Col- lins before casting his mind forward to the future of football in Cratloe.
‘There are a lot of very good young footballers in Cratloe and I think the basis is there to have a good senior team in a few years.”
In other words, this minor title could be the start of something that could turn out to be special. That’s for other days though – now was for celebrating what they’d achieved al- usreKehe
Meanwhile, for Kilmihil/Cratloe folk like Collins and Martin Murphy there was always the game against the “Barrs over the road to think about.
Another game to win.