This article is from page 87 of the 2007-10-30 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 87 JPG
WHEN Jim Gully took charge of Clonlara two years ago, they had just been relegated from senior and there wasn’t a large queue of candidates willing to take over the side. Their focus since then has been firmly on getting the club back to senior and even though they went out of last year’s championship at the semi-fi- nal stage at the hands of Killanena, Gully knew that his young side were heading in the right direction.
More than anything else, it was that drive and focus which brought them victory last weekend. Their deter- mination on route to this final was a major factor in their success but they brought that tenacity to a whole new level on Sunday with a huge second half display which epitomised their strength of character and never-say- die attitude.
This all stems from the manage- ment’s commitment and belief in their team which manifested itself on Sunday in Jim Gully’s post-match celebrations. As the final whistle sounded, Gully’s elation was obvi- ous for all to see as he lept and ran around Cusack Park, even dropping to his knees at one stage, to thank the man above.
Still out of breath, he still had time between handshakes and hugs to pay tribute to his side who won their first intermediate title in eight years.
“It’s a great day for the club. This is the culmination of two years work. Relegated the year before last, we took it on last year with a very young team and we were a bit unlucky to
lose the semi-final by a point to Killanena. But today just makes it all worthwhile. It was a long, long slog.”
Fifteen points in the second half was a reflection on how much this
final meant to Clonlara but Gully admitted it took a while for them to really get on top after half-time.
“TI thought at the start of the second half, things were going slow and we didn’t seem to be able to get the lead
down. We went down and scored two points and then they went and got two back and I thought ‘Christ it is going to be another one of those days’. But then we scored five points without re- ply and | think that really gave us the
impetus to go on. Our lads have great belief because even in the semi-final, we lost the lead with four minutes to go and we still came back and won it by four. So that belief probably car- ried through today as well.”
Six points down at half-time after leading by five midway through the half, Clonlara’s challenge looked to be petering out. Half-time could not come soon enough and as Killanena remained on the field for the inter- val, Clonlara retired to the dressing rooms to reflect on what had gone wrong. But Gully confesses there were no tea-cups thrown around, just a reaffirmation by the management of the team’s abilty and belief.
“Those guys are all well able to hurl so we just said “believe in your- selves’. | mean we were only five or six points down with a big wind so we said ‘don’t panic and the scores will come’. Probably five minutes into the second half, if I had a chance I would have withdrawn those words but anyway, they didn’t panic and kept it going and they got there in the end.”
They certainly did and they will have to do it all again next weekend as they enter into their first Munster intermediate campaign. Jim Gully reckons they won’t think about that until maybe Wednesday. Ampel time to digest this win first.