CLARECASTLE captain Colin Brigdale has been leading by example to help the Magpies fly into the Clare PIHC final.
It has not been a smooth flight by any means for Clarecastle who despite beating Whitegate and Bodyke in the first two rounds fell to defeats against Ruan and Sixmilebridge’s second string in the group stages before just about qualifying for the knockout stages.
Once they hit the quarter-final and semi-final, Ger O’Loughlin’s side have gone to another level with Brigdale among their top performers. He scored two points from wing back in their victory over Tubber before standing up as their best player in the semi-final against Whitegate when even though he didn’t score, he created an abundance of chances, tore out from defence with excellent runs and made it look like the sliotar was glued to his hurley.
An appearance on a television show ended up with Colin getting the nickname ‘Stig’ which he is more commonly known as and not the programme was not Top Gear. “I was on a television programme years ago when I was in sixth class, myself Cian Mc and Owen O’Hara, two lads that are out foreign now at the moment, the show was called ‘The Mountain’, the producer wanted me to say a line, I was tiny at the time and the two boys were massive, I had to say the line ‘my name is stig because I’m fast and skilful’, it has stuck ever since despite how cringey it sounds,” he recounted.
Starting out for the Clare PIHC, Clarecastle had aims and objectives, they would have envisaged scenarios but they could never have predicted they would have Ghostbusters star Bill Murray attending one of their games. The Hollywood A-lister was seated alongside Clare GAA Chairman, Kieran Keating for their 4-19 0-22 win against Tubber. “It was mad, we were out there, after the game we saw camera crews and I was saying to myself ‘Jees Scariff Bay have really upped their streaming service’, we were surrounded then and a producer asked would one of us do an interview, it was crazy because a lot of our guys wouldn’t have known who he was to be honest. Rory (O’Connell) did a great interview, no better man to speak like that, it went viral from there but we were just delighted to win the game more than anything else, it was very cool”.
Stereotypes may have led to O’Connell getting the nod for the interview, he suspected. “He came up behind him, maybe it was the ginger hair, the stereotypical Irish fella but no better man, he’d love that”.
Reflecting on their campaign, the twenty six year old outlined, “At the start of the year we said to ourselves we’d take it game by game, we knew we had a youthful time with the introduction of a couple of young lads this year, a new management and we knew we had great structures in place from the start of the year. One or two games we started well so we were happy enough but not fully happy with how we went, we got over Whitegate by eight points but it was more like a three or four point game, we got over Bodyke and won handy enough but we got a few scares too. When it came to Ruan, their backs were to the wall and they wanted it more, we were caught then, we were playing the following week against The Bridge and it led into that, a youthful team and a bit of complacency set in, I don’t know was it a domino effect from the previous game where we didn’t perform again and we had to really turn it around for the Tubber game.
“We came to the quarter-final against Tubber thinking there was nothing to lose, it was a sense of redemption, we lost to them last year and we knew they were a quality side that probably should have won the championship, we knew there was a sense of redemption, we took the shackles off and used our pace, we got a really good start with 3-14 in the first half, that gave us a great platform to go and win the game. It brought momentum to the Whitegate game, we felt if we could reach those levels that we would compete and get to a final, in the first half we had a gale-force wind and we struggled, we had eleven wides and missed two goal chances, we weren’t playing to our potential either. A lot of people would have said it was hairy enough at half time but going into the second half, the shackles went off again and we started using our assets, we started running with the ball from a good platform with our backs carrying the ball a bit more, mix it up and start using our full-forward line, it worked very well and our fitness showed in that we were finishing games well,” he told The Clare Echo.
Following stints as a substitute teacher in Newmarket-on-Fergus and Clarecastle, the Mary Immaculate College is now working full-time in his old school as the third class teacher at Clarecastle NS. “There’s great excitement in the school, they can’t do enough for me in terms of building up the buzz for it, we’ve a new culture in Clarecastle with a nice influx of people who aren’t from the village, MJ the principal and some of the teachers are really doing their best to get them all to the game, get them playing and recognising a few of us, it is great and it makes the buzz a bit better for me in that I’m exposed to that”.
Centre-back Aaron Hayes is currently on teaching placement in the school. The duo won’t complain about experiencing the county-final excitement first-hand. “You are stuck in the middle regardless and they are doing so much for us, they are doing a jersey day, a guess the score and trying to promote people to go to the game so I’m stuck in the middle of it but you have to enjoy the build-up, don’t let it bog you down or change your ways, we’ll keep doing what we’re doing, nothing will really change”.
This is his third year as captain, he has experienced some big lows and is hopeful of reaching the high of lifting the Paddy Browne Cup this weekend. “It is a great privilege. Unfortunately I was captain when we were relegated, that hit hard, you’d hang your head in shame a bit at that because the club is stepped in so much history. Last year I was captain but I didn’t play much because I broke my hand in two places and ended up getting surgery on it, I tore my hamstring too so I really didn’t feature much, I came on against Tubber with a broken hand nearly trying to fight my way back on but it was a stop start year in general so we’ve to write that off as well as 2023. It feels great to be coming in fresh this year”.
While Clarecastle won seven of their twelve Clare SHC titles over a 20 year period from 1986 to 2006, the current crop have more experience of relegation deciders than county finals, he admitted. “I’ve played in four or five relegation finals at this stage, it is real backs to the wall stuff, do or die but that experience is all we have really, we don’t have the county final experience but we have that in our locker, it is tough to be in it because it is literally do or die”.
Going through relegation together has strengthened the resolve of their players, he felt. “We’re a galvanised bunch, that is down to the management putting the structures in place and the players taking responsibility. We’ve a big mix of Pa Kelly who is thirty odd, Stephen O’Halloran who is over thirty and then me I’m twenty six, we’ve a lot between the 19-21 age bracket, we are very young but lads get on so well together, we do a lot outside of it from going for coffees to swims, we’re a galvanised bunch who stick together”.
In another code, Stig was part of the big days in Cusack Park, lining out in the 2021 Clare SFC final when representing Kilmurry Ibrickane. “I was in a county final in 2021 and we lost to Ennistymon on penalties in 2022. I came back when Clarecastle’s football team returned, I gained great experience from being with them, the Kilmurry boys the culture they have out there is unbelievable, the lads with nine championships are still hungry to go back for more, when they lose a match out there it is like a death, I learned so much from sharing a dressing room with the Hickeys, Dermot Coughlan and Marty McMahon, it was a great experience but it was hard to juggle them both keeping everyone happy here and there”.
