This article is from page 117 of the 2009-10-27 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 117 JPG
NO-ONE needs to tell Whitegate how difficult it is to win an Inter- mediate championship. Thwarted in their two previous attempts in the latter stages of the competition since their relegation from senior in 2006, the added frustration of watching the eventual champions Clonlara and Broadford settle so well at the sen- ior grade made them even more de- termined to finally succeed this time around. It made Sunday’s victory all the sweeter, safe in the knowledge that they had finally regained their senior status.
“We are delighted,’ admitted man- ager Matthew Quirke. “It’s a very hard championship to win, there is no doubt about it. We came down from senior three years ago and we fought hard every year, but Broadford beat us last year and Killanena beat us the previous year so after being there or thereabouts in that time, it’s great to finally get up.”
Captain Patrick ‘Magoo’ Minogue echoed those sentiments of a long road to victory.
“When you drop down from senior, it’s very hard to regroup and get back going again. We found it very hard again this year and there was a big effort put in by the three lads and thankfully it paid off today.
“We have had three hard years now and have put a huge effort into winning this championship. Today. Feakle threw everything at us in the
first-half and we were fierce lucky to go in at half-time ahead, but thank- fully in the second-half, our big lads stood up, Brendan [Bugler] and Tho- mas [Holland] in the half-back line and luckily enough, we got there in the end.”
Similar to every team’s struggle for success, there is always a turning
point in the season, a nadir that forces a side to refocus their challenge and for Quirke, it was the reality check of their opening round defeat to En- nistymon.
“We have put in a huge effort this year. We got beaten in the first round by Ennistymon and that was definite- ly the turning point of the season for
us. It really shook up the players and the management. Up until that point, we though we were better than we were and it helped us to refocus. That is not to downgrade Ennistymon in any way but that defeat definitely turned us around.”
From that point on, Whitegate were a totally transformed side, achiev-
ing promotion to the top tier of the Clare Cup before storming through the remainder of the group stages of the championship. Further obstacles were put in their path when they were drawn in the same side as Eire Og and Killanena for the business end of the championship but while they were impressive against the Townies, they found Killanena a much bigger stumbling block.
“We were fierce lucky” explained Minogue, “especially in the semi-fi- nal against Killanena. In the last 15 minutes, we were staring defeat in the face but we got the breaks and came back and it was the same today. We got the breaks in the second-half and took them.”
The celebrations may have to be cut short in the village this week though as Whitegate’s Munster adventure begins against Tipperary champions Carrick Davins. Following on from Clooney/Quin, Clonlara and Broad- ford’s impressive runs in the com- petition, Minogue is optimistic that Whitegate can follow suit.
“We haven’t looked past today but hopefully now we can go on and represent Clare as well as the other teams over the last few years.”
Now that they have finally got the intermediate monkey off the backs, anything else will be a bonus.