This article is from page 91 of the 2011-12-06 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 91 JPG
“PINCH ME,” says Sean Stack. “This is not happening. This team has come from absolutely no where.”
Sean Stack has brought them there – it’s no wonder captain Kieran Bermingham has just bellowed from Semple Stadium’s Ard Comhairle that “he’s the greatest man to walk in the gates of Na Piarsaigh. He’s Sean Stack. He’s a legend”.
He was before this day, from his days as a swashbuckling centre-back with Clare and his beloved ‘Bridge. “We won’t compare it to the ‘Bridge,” he says of club he won seven county titles and a Munster with in a 20something year career. “The ‘Bridge are the ‘Bridge to me and always will be, but his is a very special day and let’s savour it,” he adds.
And why not, given the journey Stack has brought them on since that 2009 county final defeat to Adare. Stack sifts through the stops on the journey like the teacher he is working out a lesson plan.
“Take us back to when we played Croom in the first round of the championship in Limerick and now we’re Munster champions,” he says. “No one would have dared to dream that even.
“We were lucky to get over Croom, but they’re serious, serious guys and they buy into everything they’re told and asked to do and they improved and improved and improved. To beat Crusheen, a serious team, I really stand back and admire them. To win a contest like that makes it all the more special.
“The final (2009) against Adare. Sad day. Twenty four months ago and to get a huge cheer from everybody there, having scored our third point in the hour and the hour almost up and we down 17 at the time. To come from that to this. I mean, is it happening? I don’t know if it is happening. It has to sink in. It’s dreamland.”
It’s happened alright, just as Stack sensed it might when wishing out loud after the drawn game that “maybe the tide is turning in our favour”. It did, especially in the final 15 minutes when Na Piarsaigh scored 17 without reply.
“Crusheen have a 45-minute spell in a match and then they start running out of petrol a bit,” he says. “That came to the fore the last day when they were tested by us. In last quarter of an hour the last day we were unlucky to draw the match – they realised that and we were very much adamant to grind it out as much as we could until that 45-minute spell was over.
“When they took off Davie Forde it was a bad sign for them and a huge lift to the opposition to see their main source of energy going off the pitch. That was a turning point.
“We had more on the bench and we knew that, but you have to be in the contest to bring them off the bench. Adrian Breen is seasoned and he was very disappointed not to be on the team today and he played brilliantly when he came in,” he adds.
As did those around him as Na Piarsaigh completed a remarkable year that has brought them county titles at under 14, Féile na nGael, under 16, minor, senior league and championship and now the Munster club.
“It’s a city club and how many city clubs are left in Ireland that are GAA strongholds, says Stack with pride. “Galway has been emptied for years, Cork is emptying out, thanks be to God we have Kilkenny and we’re hoping that we’ll start a new trend in the city.
“All we can do is work in our part of it and we’re working seriously hard there. There are great men in the club, men from rural origins, urban origins and they’re all dug in with kids from the age of six upwards.
“We’ll get our heads around the All-Ireland semi-final. We’re going to have a right rattle at this for the week, we’ll see after Christmas where it takes us.”