This article is from page 93 of the 2009-10-13 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 93 JPG
THE celebrations were far from wild, but when Kilmihil manager Mick Darby took a few minutes out to reflect on some more silverware heading out the Kilrush Road, be- fore hanging a right at Downes’ pub, skirting by Knockalough and on its way to Declan’s Bar, he was keen to reflect on what had been another mission accomplished for his emerg- ing side.
“We are a couple of years away from being a real force at senior lev- el,” he admitted, “because we have a lot of young lads coming through but I believe that it will happen for us in due course, so it’s about trying to improve with every year and this win is part of that.
“The lads themselves made the de-
cision that they wanted to stay train- ing. We had two games to play to try and win this Senior B title and we did that. It’s about keeping up the momentum for this Kilmihil team after winning the intermediate title last year and winning the Senior B was important.”
Just as important was being part of county senior final afternoon for the first time in nearly two decades. “It’s a long time, 19 years since the Kilmi- hil club has been here in Cusack Park on county senior final day,’ reflected Darby, who was manager back in 1990 when they were beaten by St Joseph’s Miltown.
“It meant this was a big day for the club and an occasion for the players. They needed to settle in and they did that in the first-half when get- ting those points near the end of the
half to go in with a good lead at half- time.
“The two Ryans caught great ball and kicked great scores, but I wouldn’t be one for singling out in- dividual players because everyone on the panel has worked hard. It was a panel effort, just like it has been all year.
“Mark O’Connell had a problem with a groin injury, but that wasn’t the reason he was moved in. He was moved in for a different reason and he’s a hard player to stop when he’s on form and going forward.”
Kilmihil are going forward them- selves.