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*Darragh Sexton. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
THREE-TIME Clare SFC winner Darragh Sexton is eager to pick up a fourth medal as Kilmurry Ibrickane look to stop Éire Óg from winning a third title on the bounce and prevent their own club from losing a third successive final.
Indeed it appears three may be the magic number as Kilmurry Ibrickane need to win to ensure they haven’t lost their last three senior final appearances, their two most recent encounters were against Éire Óg in 2021 and 2024. Not since their losses in 1924, 1935, 1945 and 1946 have the Bricks lost successive senior finals.
Darragh was one of the standout players in his debut season in 2016 when the Aiden Moloney managed Kilmurry Ibrickane won the club’s eleventh title. They are now chasing number seventeen.
Over the last decade along with consistently stepping up for his club, Sexton is now one of the on-field leaders responsible for tactical calls and implementing strategies on the grass. “Myself, Shane Hickey and Darren Hickey are by a decent bit the oldest and probably the most experienced, now you have Dermot (Coughlan) and all the other lads, we have leaders all over the pitch but you do elect lads to say bits and pieces throughout a game but it not just me, Danny Walsh is great for it, Dermo and all the lads, I do take on the mantle a bit and I enjoy it, I’ve played with Enda Coughlan, Martin McMahon real leaders who I picked up a lot from down through the years, I don’t feel a burden of weight doing it”.
Similarly his positioning has become more offensive. “The new rules play into that, the way the team is, we’re very mobile and we move a lot, if you look at our games a different player plays well every day because we’re a fluid team in that sense. You do have a structure that you need to follow but at times you can have faith in them lads, everyone knows everyone else’s role, you’re not stuck in your role but there normally is a structure to follow”.
Manager Enda Coughlan and coach Evan Talty are the first of Sexton’s former teammates to now be in charge of his side. “It has been seamless, I have definitely seen a crankier side to Enda, even Evan the level of professionalism and analysis he does is exceptional, Kieran (Ryan) and Noel (Dunning) make the management as a whole really excellent, they put the platform there for us to perform, although I did play with Enda and Evan I’m delighted to have them in the management team”.
Over time, the Cloonlaheen native has found that he is trying to assist young players with tips that would have been pointed out to him by more experienced teammates over the last decade. “It is stuff you pick up on from other players that were experienced when you were young and it is up to you to pass it on, they need a bit of guidance because they are a lot more clued than I was at their age but it is no harm giving them a help in those aspects”.
Thirty four year old Darragh is adamant that Éire Óg are the team to beat. “It is really always just looking to the next match and not thinking about other teams, that is a big thing for us, focusing on our game and how we can perform best. In the back of your mind you know Éire Óg are the defending champions, that they have won four of the last five, they are the team to beat and as it turns out they have got to the final, we’re looking forward to playing them”.
As was the case in 2024, the Bricks are the underdogs. “We’re definitely underdogs because they have won four out of the last five, on the day it is fifty fifty but it is nice to be coming in as underdogs”.
Going six years without winning the senior championship is a fallow spell for the ambitious West Clare club. “There is confidence there, it has been a long time, that does weigh on you a little bit, we keep getting to semi-finals and quarter-finals so we know we’re there or thereabouts, we’re looking to take the final step and try get over the line”.
He maintained there was nothing missing that prevented them from lifting the Jack Daly in recent years. “We’re not missing anything but a big addition has been the young lads to come through like Ajay Daly who did an exceptional job man-marking one of the best players in the county in the semi-final, Conor Burke has started every game and has been playing really well, Ruben Fallon has started games and has been unlucky not to start the last day but has been making great impacts, they are just three lads that are seventeen or eighteen, we have other lads like Cathal Talty who aren’t old but have been still around the panel for a few years, there’s a good balance between experience and youth”.
Kilmurry Ibrickane are keen to deliver on the biggest day, he outlined. “The hunger levels are as back as ever, I’ll be thirty five next year, these days won’t be coming around for much longer, I have won three and lost three, I’d like to get another one if I could, we’ll do our best to make that happen”. He continued, “I love these days, I love the big occasion, I wouldn’t be one to struggle with the nerves, I like to get the work done, do the bit of training and it will be excitement”.
Unbeaten in all five championship encounters to date, Sexton has noticed they are getting stronger as they go. “We’re enjoying our football, the demands are definitely high, we work on a lot of stuff, we’ve had a lot to work on after a lot of games, we’ve had ups and downs, we’ve had aspects to improve on, the group is good in that they’re young so they are willing to take information on board and work on it, we’re trying to get stronger every day we go out”.
Cooraclare was the setting for the quarter-finals when they had their biggest scare as Doonbeg fired six points in a row to draw level approaching the death. “When things are going against you then you’re not really thinking bigger picture, you are thinking next ball, that is what you are thinking, I do feel like we might have lost that game last year and we have matured a bit as a team, getting over a game like that against a tough Doonbeg side could stand to us and it did when we had a better performance in the semi-final against Kildysart. Getting through the tight games is always a good thing”.
Subsequent to Kilmurry Ibrickane’s last title-winning season, Darragh has also changed jobs, leaving AIB for Poplar Tree Services. “I’m actually climbing trees and I’m not in AIB anymore, I’m still a qualified financial advisor but I made a change a few years ago and I prefer being outside,” he explained of his move to become an arborist.
On whether the pandemic prompted the career shift, he said, “I didn’t connect the dots like that, maybe it had a bit of an affect, I went travelling for a year and took a career break, over the course of the year I decided I wanted to work outside more, I took a leap at that stage”.
Outdoors and active as opposed to sitting at a desk, he finds the change has helped his football. “It is one of the main reasons I changed my career because I like to be using the body, I found when I was working in an office that I was putting myself in an awkward position and trying to correct it but it can slip out of your mind fairly easily. Don’t get me wrong, there’s other physical challenges to what I do but definitely it was a draw to the outdoors side of it”.
