*Gavin Cooney raises aloft the Jack Daly. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
Éire Óg’s supporters helped to give their senior footballers an edge when they crowned Clare SFC champions on Sunday, their match-winning captain has outlined.
Chants of ‘Cooney, Cooney, Cooney’ echoed across Cusack Park when Gavin Cooney prepared to accept the Jack Daly from Clare GAA Chairman, Jack Chaplin on Sunday which highlighted the admiration for the twenty two year old from the Éire Óg supporters. As the minutes and hours progressed, he would also become the most photographed member of the team with a queue of young Townies looking to get their picture with the skipper.
Many of the individuals shouting his name were also quick to pass on their well wishes during the week, Gavin noted. “A lot of them have been texting me during the week saying I better perform, to hear the support we got today by all the supporters was absolutely amazing, to give back to them is what it’s all about really”.
His memories of the 2006 final, the club’s last win at this level prior to Sunday were of the flares brought by Éire Óg followers to the country grounds. The flares returned as the Ennis club secured the title for the first time in fifteen years. “It’s like the sixteenth man when the flares came out and we were walking past the band, it blows you away really and you forget you have a game to play, it’s amazing to see it all and we’re very grateful that the supporters were here”.
He added, “The last few years I’ve been watching other captains do it for good teams, it was something you always dream of. When I was asked to be captain this year, it’s always the peak you want to reach to and it was amazing up there to lift the trophy, it’s a moment I won’t forget”.
A quad strain hampered Gavin’s preparation for the county final and ruled him out of the hurlers’ semi-final defeat to Inagh/Kilnamona a week previously. With the first ball on Sunday, he scored an excellent point to set the tempo but also damaged his quad, “It went with the first ball, I felt it go, it was the exact same way as it went in training when I first hurt it. I had to put it to the back of my mind and get on with the game,” the full-forward told The Clare Echo.
