*Colin Riordan takes on Conor Tevlin. Photograph: Mike Brennan.
WITHIN the space of seven days, Colin Riordan claimed intermediate honours in hurling and football with Wolfe Tones.
Part two of their intermediate double was secured when the Tones recorded a four point win over Naomh Eoin in difficult conditions in Cooraclare on Saturday. Riordan alongside captain Dean Devanney were the only starting duel players with the Fitzgeralds, Niall and Tadhg, Conor Carrig and Aaron Kelly part of both panels.
“It’s the third trophy of the year now with football league Division 3, the hurling last week and now this with the football, this is what you train for, I’m eleven months training at this stage, grafting away and I’m not the only one, there is four or five others dual players across the way so it is brilliant,” Colin told The Clare Echo.
Wing forward with the hurlers, Colin was corner forward as part of a two man inside line with the experienced Gary Leahy. As the conditions deteriorated in Cooraclare on Saturday, the ball rarely entered the Wolfe Tones attack. “I don’t think I touched much in the second half, it was a monsoon I won’t lie, it was very hard to get on ball out there and I haven’t played in conditions like that all year, it was a tough game so fair play to Naomh Eoin because they battled well but thankfully we came out on the right side and I’m sure they will be back next year”.
On the nineteenth minute, he had the assist for Jack Ryan’s goal after his initial effort bounced back off the post. “I wasn’t happy hitting the post obviously but Jack (Ryan) was there to finish it off, I knew there would be somebody there anyway, Jack is a poacher in the soccer and the same in the football, thankfully we put up a good score in the first half and we held it out”.
Securing promotion to senior in both codes forms part of a memorable year for Wolfe Tones who also had one of their greatest players Brian Lohan manage the county to All-Ireland SHC glory in July. “It is some turnaround for the club, we were down in the dumps last year after getting relegated in the hurling and losing the semi-final in the football after being ahead, we lost the Junior B final so now we’ve two teams in senior for hurling and football and two teams in Junior A with three Junior C teams across the board so it is a great year for the club and this is why lads play, it is brilliant for the club”.
A first year engineering student at TUS, he added, “The aim for the football for the last three years was to go up, the hurling last year was a bit different so it is just brilliant to be up senior in both, the first time in six or seven years”.
