This article is from page 101 of the 2010-02-23 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 101 JPG
MICHEAL McDermott is the first to peel away from the biggest rolling maul that the home of rugby has ever seen — it starts underneath the Mick Mackey Stand and moves quickly in the direction of Thomond Park and Seller shee
Mackey wouldn’t have minded — he loved rugby so much he was a mem- ber of the Vigilante Committee so he could go to games. McDermott doesn’t mind either and doesn’t want to break away, but RTE’s cameras are calling, not to mind a posse of hacks who were giving chase — he’s not about to run away on his great- est day.
“Every player ran himself into a stick and that’s what the club is about,’ he says drawing breath. ‘“That’s what our mantra is about. It’s work ethic all the way. There’s tremendous honesty among the play- ers and everyone involved and that’s what wins out at the end of the day.
‘“There’s a hunger about these play- ers to keep winning, winning and
winning. They have such a belief among themselves — they believe that they’re the best in the country. SU cr TMcMmeetomAW: WAN O Olean ecROO PERO OT:IMCME NOLS way they play.
‘This week, the one thing I noticed as against the Munster final was that there was no fear of today. There was no fear or tension that you’d expect coming into an All-Ireland semi-fi- nal. I never saw a team as ready — I said it Tuesday night, I said it Thurs- day night, I said it yesterday. We were confident coming down that we were going to deliver.”
Confidence, adds McDermott, that was nurtured after their quarter-final win over Tir Chonaill Gaels. Yes, Kilmurry won ugly that day in Ruis- lip, but it was the game as much as the win that mattered.
“Nobody realises what an impact that game had on us. We had a fresh- ness coming into today that was vital. Portlaoise had a long lay-off since December 6. We watched the DVD of Kerry v Dublin in last year’s All-Ireland quarter-final and looked at what Kerry did to Dublin in the
first 23 minutes.
“We said we were going to try and do the same. Like Kerry, we were the fresher team and we took the game to our opponents like they did and that’s when this game was won.
‘And we won because of our dis- cipline too. Football is a game of discipline. We held our discipline; we held it all year long and in every game since coming out of Clare, our opponents have lost a player, some- times more than one.
“It’s sad to see the scenes at the end there when a referee who did a very good job. He made a call on what was a very very dangerous tackle — when that happens you have to walk Ke) as nd
As McDermott speaks, Declan Callinan passes by — the suspended left-half-back has given up to walk off the field and instead is being swept away shoulder high by the roll- ing maul that’s finally turning away from Cratloe Hill and heading back towards Mick Mackey.
‘He played a huge huge part,” says McDermott raising a fisted salute. “For a guy that was suspended he was around the team all the time this week. He didn’t train on Friday night, but yet he drove all the way down from Belfast, just to be part of it.
“That guy is what this club is all about. His life, his soul is Kilmurry Ibrickane. Every sinew that he gives is for the club. He spoke to the play- ers beforehand and broke down in tears, as did a lot of the players and a lot of the management. That’s what it means. Deep down there’s a tremen- dous bond between everyone of these EN uce
“This day is acredited to Declan Callinan. We won it for him because we want to give him a day out in Croke Park that he richly deserves after a long career.”
He’s just one of many who deserves that day in Croke Park.