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*Liam Cotter of Ennistymon. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
WITH PLENTY of promise in their ranks, the time for Ennistymon to really deliver at senior level beckons and they have the desire to do just that.
Finalists in 2018 and 2022, Ennistymon have reached the quarter-finals for ten of the last eleven seasons. A single point separated them at Cratloe at that juncture following extra time in 2025 and deprived them of back to back semi-final appearances.
As a new campaign looms, they’ve been boosted by the return to training of Diarmuid Fahy, one of the county’s top forwards who has been mired with bad luck on the injury front. They have also welcomed back Brendy Rouine following a groin injury. Ciaran McMahon’s loss from the full-back line will be felt but on the injury front it is the strongest they have been when setting out into round one for a long time.
Whether it is on the field or off it, the resilience of this group has been commendable in dealing with setbacks and tragedies. They will now exert their energies into showing what they can do as a united front. For the second year in a row, they will be wearing the black stripe as opposed to the traditional white and black as they continue to honour the memory of the late Éanna Rouine.
Declan Downes is in his second season as Ennistymon manager. “Getting to understand the make-up of the group was a big focus last year, it was a very challenging year up there for the community as I’ve said before but it was about getting to know the character of the people involved, rallying together, understanding the ambition and drive of the group. The quality of them as footballers shone through last year and their ability to play front-foot football”.
Downes has brought more of an attacking flair to Ennistymon, they have the footballers but may not have played to a style to fully demonstrate their skill levels in the past. “New rules lend themselves to a more attractive style of football, our guys have embraced it and we saw it as the year went on, we got stronger during the year, we were getting a stronger panel as we went on with each round and showing our ability to play an attractive brand of football. I don’t think it took us too long to adapt to a new style, it is evolving again this year and seeing what works best for us with the new rules”.
He told The Clare Echo, “first and foremost they are very ambitious and committed, they have standards and goals for themselves, they know where they want to end up and what prizes they want to be competing for, their ambition is obvious”.
Minus the services of a large cohort during the Cusack Cup, Ennistymon won when they needed to including their twelve point win over St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield in the final round which consolidated their status. “No more than most teams we had players on county panels and invariably in the Cusack Cup you’re missing players from week to week with other commitments, injuries and general availability. It was an opportunity to get game time into other players, we saw that as an opportunity, we were down players but we were very competitive in games, there was generally only a point or two in most of our games”.
For large spells of the league, they had to line out without members of the Inagh/Kilnamona senior hurling panel. They will be available for selection this weekend, Downes confirmed. “They have been on board during the year when we could fit in games to manage their load and schedule, they have been on board for training and meetings during the years, those guys are looking forward to competing with Ennistymon’s footballers, they have a long history with the club and there’s no issues on their involvement”.
With injuries healing, players returning from Clare commitments and the dual balance, it tends to only be around the end of June and the beginning of July when Ennistymon get their hands on their full pick, the club is not unique in this regard according to Declan. “Every club is the same, you have a lull period after the league finishes, guys need to get a break whether they are coming back from a county season or finishing college and exams. Come the 1st of August you’re going to have a full run of games over hopefully a long run so you need to get holidays in, between getting injuries right, getting players back and other commitments, you have to manage it and work around it. We’ve managed to get a good block of work done, we can’t compare challenges or league to championship so the first round is a bit of an unknown for us”.
Forming part of a Cusack Park double-header, the only one scheduled for the group stages, Ennistymon meet last year’s county finalists St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield. “They are beaten finalists so we have to respect that, they have young talent coming through and guys I’m familiar with, guys that have been on county panels and have played inter-county football. We’re under no illusions as to the challenge ahead on Saturday and we’re not looking past that”.
Round two pits Downes against his native Kilmihil for the second year running, it finished 0-16 0-13 in favour of Kilmihil in one of the shocks of the round. “We are playing them in game two, I pointed out last year that they’d be very competitive and they’d ask serious questions of us, if you’re not ready for the battle then you don’t get the results and if you don’t deliver a performance then anyone can overturn you. We’ll address that game in time but it’s all eyes on Doora/Barefield”.
For the second time and the first in eleven years, Ennistymon won the O’Gorman Cup, claiming the silverware a fortnight ago against Kildysart. “We entered the competition at the start of the year to give us extra games and have more opportunities, it was one of three competitions we could enter in Clare and it was nice to win it but it probably doesn’t have any relevance on the next six weeks in the group stages of championship. We didn’t linger on it too much, it was a game on the day and we moved on”. There will be a different atmosphere and approach when both sides meet in the third round, a fixture which is likely to have a big bearing on the allocation of quarter-final places.
Ennistymon Factfile
Management: Declan Downes (manager), Brendan ‘Beano’ Rouine (selector), Michael Rouine (selector), John Conneally (selector)
Captain: Eoin Rouine
Key Player: Cillian Rouine
One to watch: Daniel Brody
Fresh blood: Eoin Marrinan, Michael Davenport,
Departures Gate: None.
Treatment table: Ciaran McMahon (back), Eoin Marrinan (ankle)
Titles won: 0
Last season’s run: Defeated by Cratloe by a point following extra time in the quarter-finals
Schedule of games:
Round 1 vs St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield on Saturday August 1st at 16:00 in Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chíosóg, Ennis
Round 2 vs Kilmihil on Sunday August 16th at 13:00 in Shanahan McNamara Memorial Park, Doonbeg
Round 3 vs Kildysart on Saturday August 29th at 17:00 in Páirc Cuar an Chláir, Cooraclare
Championship power ranking (1=weak/unlikely winners, 10=strong contenders): 8
