*David Conroy. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
AS St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield enter their crucial sophomore season at senior level, new manager Oisin O’Brien doesn’t have to look too far for inspiration.
With the Parish currently having the biggest influx of young players over the past three seasons, honing that talent into a senior force is something that his native club Clonlara have most achieved to spectacular effect in 2023 with a first Canon Hamilton in 15 years before subsequently going on to contest the Munster Club Final.
“From a personal point of view, it was absolutely wonderful to see Clonlara finally win it again, They have always been there-or-thereabouts but I felt that the new young crop have really stood up over the past few years. They developed through winning three Senior Bs in a row which seemed ridiculous at the time but it meant that these young players got more valuable matches under their belts and it really stood to them last year with the way they performed. I would have coached Colm O’Meara, Dylan [McMahon] and Aidan [Moriarty] at underage so we knew that the talent was coming so I was delighted that they got over the line last year as I thought they played phenomenal.
“There’s good banter in the team and they have a great set-up involved from Donal [Madden] the whole way down. Ger O’Connell, Niall Hogan and also Eric Finn does a lot of good work in the S&C so from top to bottom, they all work so hard for each other,” Oisin added.
Now in his third year involved with Doora/Barefield, former county senior O’Brien has coached this new-look side from the choppy waters of intermediate to establishing themselves at the top level, with the next phase of their development inevitably being a further few steps up the senior ladder.
“Progress is obviously the goal when you’re trying to develop a new team. I mean even since we won the intermediate two years ago, there has been a lot of turnover of new young players that have mostly been involved in contesting two Minor A finals. So you’re hoping for development, increasing competition for places and trying to make sure that you can capitalise upon the good work at underage. So hopefully that can continue on and we can see a little bit more progress again this year. We learned a lot from last year, it’s nearly trial by combat coming into senior for your first year from intermediate.
“You have to remember that we’re still a very young panel, I’d say the average age is only still about 20 years old so we’re extremely young when comparing us to the Clonlaras and Sixmilebridges. Indeed all three other teams in our group are far more experienced teams but sometimes getting games into lads is important too in terms of team development as a lot of the lads that were blooded last year and learned a lot in a short period of time about having to be consistent for a full hour.
“We have one or two players coming back from injury like Tom Hannan and Fionn Kelleher which is great but at the other end we’ve also lost four experienced players from last year in Paul Madden, Brian Clancy and Kevin Dilleen while Cathal Ruane and Conor Tierney are living away now. So there is still a lot of transition as with older lads taking a step away from senior, it’s up to younger lads to try and fill that gap now.
“Amazingly while it’s our second year at senior, we’re probably younger this year than we were last year but these young players are ambitious and are eager to prove themselves,” O’Brien told The Clare Echo.
So is a quarter-final the chief objective for 2024?
“Look, we have to be realistic as the three other teams in our group are three stalwart clubs that have all won county titles over the last ten to fifteen years. Their goals year-in and year-out are to contest semi-finals and finals so that’s the standard of the teams that we’re playing against and we are obviously underdogs. But with youth comes good energy and young players can often surprise you so we hope to be the surprise package albeit that we will definitely be underdogs in every game we play this year”.
Management: Oisin O’Brien (Manager); Dave Cuddy, Vinnie Sheedy, Denis Maher, Liam Clohessy, Michelle Caulfield (Coaches/Selectors); Evan Hennessy (S&C): Sean Conroy (Kit Man)
Captain: Cian Barron
Key Player: David Conroy
One to Watch: Eoin Lahiffe
Fresh Blood: Conor Daly, Eoin ‘Ogie’ Fanning, Charlie Hannan, Tom Hannan, Fionn Kelleher, Conor Nash, Michael Nash, Sean O’Connell, Mark O’Connor, Padraic O’Donovan, Darragh Quinlan, Niall Talty
Departures Gate: Brian Clancy, Kevin Dilleen, Paul Madden (step back from senior); Cathal Ruane, Conor Tierney (abroad)
Treatment Table: Eoin ‘Ogie’ Fanning (Injured)
Titles Won: 5 (1955, 1958, 1998, 1999, 2001)
Last season’s run: A sobering return to senior level did have a happy ending though as the Parish consolidated their senior status with a gritty relegation final win over Wolfe Tones.
Schedule
Round 1 – v Sixmilebridge at Newmarket, Friday 7.30pm
Round 2 – v Newmarket-on-Fergus (Weekend of August 23rd-25th)
Round 3 – v Crusheen (Weekend of September 6-8th)
