This article is from page 83 of the 2007-10-02 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 83 JPG
PAT COSTELLO stood in midfield — panting, out of breath but exhila- rated at the same time as his back was Slapped every few seconds. Men, women and children — all decked in black and red or black and orange slapped his back so hard that he was nearly out on his feet.
A standing count later and he fi- nally summoned up the words to explain his greatest day in Bally- vaughan’s football history that dates back to 1890. “F***ing brilliant,” he said. “Forgive my language but that’s the only way to describe it. It was rine brilliant by them.”
Fitting really. Primal stuff on a day when a football game went to the heart of what the little corner of Clare that is Ballyvaughan and Fanore is about. “It was guts,” said Costello after drawing breath again. “It was determination and it was be- cause of Michael Greene,’ he added.
Michael Greene was the man who died with his boots on, playing a jun- ior game for Ballyvaughan in Doon- beg five years ago. He was young, in
his early forties, and with many more years to give to football in his belov- ed Ballyvaughan and district.
But, that day he was called away, his work done. Immediately the ba- ton passed to those he had nurtured. Those kids just out of Ballyvaughan and Fanore National Schools, those coming up through the ranks of the club. Other officers and mentors in the club. Teachers in the schools too.
‘“Ballyvaughan always wanted to be Senior,’ roared Pat Costello above the din. “It was a vision Michel Greene had for Ballyvaughan. We’ve car- ried on that for Michael Greene and achieved what he set out for us.
‘Michael Greene started with many of those young lads at 12 years of age. We’ve been in 21 county finals — we’ve won 16 of those and drawn two. We’ve won another today day, but this is our greastest day. I can’t believe it.”
It was true though, as the slaps con- tinued to rain down on Pat Costel- lo’s back as he moved from midfield across towards Cusack Park’s Ard Comhairle for the presentation of the Talty Cup.
“The winning of this was two years hard work,” said Costello on his jour- ney. “I said it on the radio that we had a five year plan and | wasn’t bluffing. That’s the truth of it. We had five- year plan but after two years of hard training at intermediate we made it.
‘Today what did it for us was that we kept it. They missed a few chanc- es at the start of the game but we never panicked at all today. We had a younger team with an average age of 22 years and they’ve been training with two years for this.
“We’re going to celebrate this one. It will be the party of all parties.”
The party had already started — it will go on for the rest of the year and beyond thanks to the bragging rights that go with beating their neigh- bours in the biggest game in Bally- vaughan’s history.
Some of the Cusack’s players will join in as they drown their own sor- rows.