BROTHERS IN ARMS are leading the charge for Tulla Utd as they contest a first Clare Cup final.
Chief among them are the Withycombe brothers, Dan and Seán, they are one of four sets of brothers in the squad along with the Ryans, Kilkers and McNamaras.
Nineteen months separate 23 year old Dan and 22 year old Seán. “I’d say Seán is wilder but I’m definitely wiser. He’d be a bit more dopey I’d suppose,” outlined Dan. “I’d say I’m wilder and wiser, I’ll take both,” replied Seán.
Dan is in the process of finishing his four year Arts degree in UL with Seán is in year three of a sports development and performance course at TUS. “You get a good insight into the right preparation, it’s all practical which is ideal then when you can apply the stuff in training,” Seán said of how it has helped his sporting career.
Similarly lining out in a Harty Cup final for St Joseph’s Tulla is big-game experience he’ll bank on this Saturday.
Making the top of the Premier Division and qualifying for a first Clare Cup final represents remarkable progress for Tulla.
“It’s been a great season compared to the last few years when we’ve been battling relegation and only got a Cup semi-final two years ago, other than that with the amount of work we’ve put in we haven’t got much out of it compared to this season where we’ve been competing in the league until April and we’re in a Cup final which is brilliant,” Dan said.
On what has changed, Sean explained, “Last year we were playing well in games but we weren’t getting results, this year we had a good start after losing the first game we went on a run, we got momentum and kept it going from there, we won a few games in the Cup then and said we’d take it game by game, now we’re in the final”.
He continued, “There was usually the big core of three teams in Clare but we got a draw with Newmarket and lost 1-0 to the Bridge last season so we knew we were getting closer every year, usually then we’d be losing to teams at our level but we started winning those games whereas in the last two years we’d lost points in those games”.
Having so many brothers on the team is a big plus, midfielder Dan maintained. “The group that is there has four sets of brothers, everyone else has been there since Mike came in as manager three or four years ago now so there is a core of a team there with the few youths that came up this year, it has been going for three years so it is a tight-knit group, it is good craic, it definitely helps when lads are enjoying coming down and there is a bit of craic it definitely helps with results”.
Familiarly is a big help, Seán believed. “Bar one or two we’ve all played underage together so we all know each other for a long time so it is easy to get on with each other, we take training seriously but we have the craic before and after, in the games we’re competitive”.
Craic is mentioned frequently by the Withycombes when speaking to The Clare Echo. Seán quipped, “I’d say it is a disaster for Mike because there can be a lot of talk going on in training, as Dan said it is a lot easier to play and show interest when you’re enjoying it, there’s nothing worse than coming down losing every game and it’s an hour and a half of misery out on the pitch whereas when you’re winning games and scoring goals it’s a lot easier to play for”.
Camaraderie has been growing among the squad, Dan noted. “We’ve started doing the gym together too, we go on a Monday night and if there’s games on a lot of us will go to the pub together, there’s a real team cohort there this year which hasn’t been there in other years, we do a lot of stuff together which feeds into it”.
There’s disagreement from the brothers on who in the squad is the best craic. “I’d have to say Éanna Culloo or else Ray Bane, the two of them are always great graic and in great form,” was the view of Dan while Seán pointed out, “I’d give it to Fionn Ryan”.
Little things help grow the bond as Dan illustrated, “there is a gym upstairs here too, it’s small enough but a small thing like that makes a big difference, when you’re doing the small things right it does snowball in the right direction and you see the right results coming”.
Both brothers have had contrasting fortunes coming through the underage ranks. “For my group we won nothing, I didn’t win anything playing for Tulla, Seán’s age won a few leagues and cups. The youths there now have pretty much won everything, we’ve never had success at adult level and there hasn’t been a proper adult’s team in Tulla for ten years, it is unprecedent”.
Losing heavily to Bridge Utd was a big wake-up call, coming at the start of the season, Dan felt. “We went out the first day and lost 8-1 to Bridge Utd in the Munster Junior Cup, afterwards we talked about what is the point in playing because there’s no craic if you’re getting beaten 8-1, the first two games we played well and we played well against Newmarket, we drew with them last year and lost 1-0 to Bridge Utd, it was always the weaker teams or around us that we were dropping points to, the day we played Shannon Town here we were 0-0 all game but we scored in the ninetieth minute, that gave us real momentum because Shannon were always better than us results-wise even though there was never too much between us, it gave us the belief to kick on and we won three or four games on the back of that, all of a sudden you’re up and you’re top of the table”.
Support for the team is growing in East Clare. Dan said, “Even from talking to people around the village that would have no interest in soccer they’re talking about it, it is great to see Tulla competing at the top of anything, we’re delighted. East Clare is tight-knit, it’s clannish, outside of soccer people have friends that follow everything they do, a lot of people probably wouldn’t follow soccer in East Clare so this is good to grow the support around Tulla and hopefully we’ll get a good support”.
Living a few minutes outside the village of Tulla, the Withycombes is primarily a hurling household with their father Chris hailing from North Kerry. “They don’t think about soccer down there so it is different,” Seán explained, “he’d be much more of a GAA man now”.
“Since we started going better we’ve seen him at more of the matches, if we were losing 2-0 or 3-0 I don’t think he’d be hanging around for too long, he’d be way more of a GAA man to be honest,” added Dan.
Tulla Utd is moving in the right direction he maintained. “The club is just run so well, it’s no surprise to see the youths doing as well as they are and the players coming through, for the senior team now apart from Daragh (Corry), Ayoub (Aguerran) and Ray Bane the rest of the team is under 22 or 23, the club is going on an upward trajectory the whole time”.
Club stalwarts have been to the fore in their run, Seán stated. “It would be massive for us obviously the team but for the likes of Denis Corry and Mike Hoey who have put a lot of work into Tulla Utd and keeping the club going, it would probably be bigger for them because they’ve been with the club for a long time, thankfully they are getting something to watch now at the weekends because in the past few years we’ve been poor, now they are getting to watch good football for a change”.
“You see what it means to people, a lot of people put a lot of work into it and for people who have coached us underage, lads like Mike (Moloney) he’s been over Seán’s age-group for like ten years almost, Denis (Corry), Mike (Hoey), Shane (Fogarty), Barry (Mcinerney), there’s been a lot of work gone in and we’d like to give something back. I saw a photo on The Clare Echo after the semi-final at the final whistle, the celebrations on the sideline and the emotion, it means a lot to people,” Dan said.
