*Jim Marrinan preparing the Clare kit van.
FIRST into the dressing room and last out of it, in his own way long-serving Clare football kit man Jim Marrinan is putting a unique spin on the county’s crest.
‘Na céada sa g-cath; na deigheanaca as’ reads the motto underneath the Clare crest which translates as ‘the first into battle, the last out of it’, it is an old Dal gCáis war cry.
Miltown Malbay native Marrinan won’t be issuing any war cries himself in advance of Sunday’s Munster final but he’s certainly living up to the first into battle and last out tag.
He started as Clare’s kit man in October 2007 ahead of Frank Doherty’s two-year stint as manager and he’s been there for the reigns of Micheál McDermott, Mick O’Dwyer, Colm Collins, Mark Fitzgerald and now Peter Keane.
Former Clare GAA Chairman and fellow Miltown man, Michael ‘Malty’ McDonagh is to credit with getting Jim on board as kitman. “The great Malty, ‘you’ll do it’, there was no such thing as a will you or won’t you. It was one of the best things I’ve ever done, once you’re involved with football and you enjoy it then it’s a great thing to be involved with”.
As the years have passed, the workload has increased. “There’s been more trust from managers too, the more they get to know you then the more they give you to do. Fair play to Peter, when he was getting the job he rang me and we met and had a chat about it, he asked me to stay on and I did”.
Leaving was something he gave serious consideration to following Mark Fitzgerald’s exit in September. “I don’t think I’d have gone back this year but Peter was a little bit stuck I thought with the changeover, there was nobody really left so I said I’d give him a hand for a year or two”.
Each of the six county managers he has worked with has brought something different to the table, Jim noted. “I always picked up a few bits and pieces from them all even for my own club, maybe more from the coaches. Everybody brings something different, Colm made it so professional, everything was laid on for them, Micheál McDermott was very unlucky not to bring us up the divisions in the league, a lot of it comes down to luck, a bounce of a ball here and there. When we first started there was never anything about nutrition, there was nothing about how lads were sleeping, it was just train and go, now they have to write everything down, they have to say how they slept, how they are eating”.
Colm Collins’ arrival brought an extra layer of professionalism which in turn increased the work for Jim, “Anything to improve football is good, I don’t mind the workload, we’ll always get over that, as long as we’re improving we’ll do what we can for Clare football”.
Key to him returning each year has been how highly he regards the players. “The lads are brilliant, if I’m ever stuck they’ll look out for me, they’ll pick up their cones or help carry something in from the van, it makes an awful difference. They are a very honest group of lads, they work hard, they enjoy the craic but they put in some amount of effort with their training and with the sacrifices”.
He told The Clare Echo, “they are so nice to work with, they’ve great respect for each other and for everyone involved, there’s no egos, everyone is the same no matter what you do, it makes an awful difference”.
Clare contesting a third Munster final in a row shows the strides the county is making, Marrinan maintained. “I’m there nearly twenty years now, if you take the three of these away I’ve only been involved in two Munster finals, there’s been big gaps when you think about it”.
Reflecting on their provincial final losses of 2023 and 2024 plus the learnings that need to be applied, he said, “it’s about staying in the game really, in the 2023 Munster final we were well behind after a few minutes but we’re getting there, we’re improving every time we get there, you’d be hoping the big day will come some day. We need to stay in the game for as long as we can, take the scores when they come, don’t go mad looking for goals, just keep the scoreboard ticking over, hopefully that will work”.
Having a strong Clare crowd behind the footballers would make a massive difference this weekend. “You’d be hoping they get a big crowd there, it is hard because people are finding it hard to get a place to stay in Killarney with the Rally of the Lakes, I think there will be a big crowd travelling, I’d hope so anyway. Wouldn’t it be brilliant to cause an upset”. He added, “If you’re not there you can’t win it, that is why the Tipperary game was so important, it was such a pressure game, there was a lot of pressure on them, now they are guaranteed four games, four top games”.
Big days are not a new phenomenon for many of the Clare players who have lined out in All-Ireland quarter-finals, the Super 8s and the Sigerson Cup. “We played seven years in Division 2 which was a big bonus when everyone thought after going up that we’d go straight down again, to last there for seven years was brilliant and to play top teams, we ran Dublin to a point and should have won against them, we took a lot of big scalps along the way, we were very unlucky not to get promoted to Division 1 in 2020. People say ‘you’re better off playing in the Tailteann Cup’ but I don’t think so because we want top quality games. The players want to be playing at the highest level they can play at, that is where you learn and you test yourself, the lads love it, they love being out there whether it is training, testing themselves or fighting hard”.
Weeks of games are less frantic for Jim. “The week isn’t too bad because everything is nearly done at that stage, you’re making sure you’re on top of everything, making sure Cusack Park is open and Michael Maher is brilliant he has the place always open for us. You’ve to make sure the food is coming on time, training might run over late or finish a bit early, you make sure all the gear is there, as long as nobody is looking for you then you know you’re okay so long as your name isn’t called that means everything is done”.
Training weeks on the other hand require a lot more travelling with trips to Kilrush Laundry where there’s plenty of football chat with Niomh Madigan. “Training weeks are busier, you’re getting gear ready for them, making sure the water is fill, in Caherlohan we’ve to bring our own water because you can’t drink it there, it depends where you are, you might need extra water, bring food for some other thing. A training session in the winter, I might leave at 5pm and get home around 11pm, I’d be first in last out”.
He’ll record Sunday’s game which airs on RTÉ because he won’t get to absorb it fully in Fitzgerald Stadium. “I love to watch it but I’ve to record games to watch them back because you’ll be moving around doing things or someone will be looking for an inhaler, a pair of gloves or they will have a loose boot so you miss some of the game”.
Cummins Car Centre have supplied a new van just in time for the Munster final. “Only for that van goes everywhere it means you can’t leave anything at home, everything is in there and I’ve a fair idea of where everything is”.
What jellies to consume is the big issue causing debate amongst the panel at present. “Some lads in Cusack Park like to sit in a certain seat so instead of putting jerseys one and two beside each other, you might move somewhere else, there’s two or three lads like that, some of them like certain jellies but nothing major. We’re having a fight over it now! There’s a mushroom one that they like, the winegums and jelly babies are the usual ones, a hit of sugar for half-time”.
None of the panel cause problems for Jim but he’s kept on his toes by the more forgetful squad members. “The biggest thing is trying to find out who leaves stuff after them, I’ve a lot of candidates for that, Manus Doherty and Danny Walsh would be two, I’d often hold up a top and ask ‘is that yours Danny’, he’d deny it and then it says DW on it, he’d be a prime man for losing stuff and Manus would lose a nice bit, there’s a few of them but we’re lucky that all their stuff is labelled, otherwise we’d be in big trouble”.
Currently a selector with St Joseph’s Miltown, Jim will have some extra assistance for this weekend as students from Miltown National School will hang the jerseys of Clare’s players on hangars before he travels to Kerry. “We’ll put them on the hangars and in a bag so they’ll all have a job of getting one of the Clare player’s jersey ready,” he explained.
GAA plays a vital role in rural communities, he said. “I played all the way to senior, I played all underage, I never played senior championship. I took over the ladies football team, managed them for a few years, I always had some team, juniors, seniors, underage, always doing something with someone, it is a great interest to have, we’d be in trouble without the GAA”.
Almost eighteen years on from becoming kit man, what would Jim say to Malty McDonagh as way of thanks for landing him with an almost permanent voluntary post, “It’s not repeatable,” he said with a grinning smirk.
