*Kilmaley captain, Mikey O’Malley. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
POSITIONAL SWITCHES of key personnel have been a hallmark of Brian Culbert’s four-year stint with the Kilmaley senior hurlers, accompanying the changes has been “steady progression” which has Michael O’Malley on the brink of lifting the Canon Hamilton.
Conor Cleary one of Clare’s top defenders in the last decade has been converted to a forward under Culbert, Daire Keane one of their longest-serving forwards has for the last two years lined out at wing back while this year has seen captain O’Malley go from centre forward to centre back.
Putting Mikey back the field wasn’t as drastic a move as he had previously lined out there at underage level for the club along with delivering a man of the match display for Clare’s senior hurlers against Cork in the third round of the National Hurling League in 2018. “I’ve played there a bit underage, it is very easy when you have the calibre of players like Aidan McGuane and Daire Keane either side of you, I’m really enjoying it back there,” he said of the move. “I like playing in the half-back line and I’ve played anywhere from the half-back line up so I was used to playing there even though I haven’t played there in a few years, I’m happy to play there and contribute to the team if they need me to”.
Keane went back to the half-back line a year before O’Malley. “He did and he has done really well, I’m very fortunate to have the two boys either side of me, Aido (McGuane) has played there for most of his career, Daire made the move back there last year. As you get older you start to move further back the field so I’ll enjoy it there for a few more years”.
Though content to go wherever he’s needed, the captain would reluctant to be pushed into the full-back line. “I hope not, I hope I don’t go back too quickly, I’m enjoying where I am now, they can keep me there for a while,” he quipped.
At the other end of the field, Cleary’s move from defence to attack has demonstrated his hurling ability which his teammates in Kilmaley were well aware of. “Conor is a great hurler, I don’t think he gets the credit he deserves for his hurling in general. He has done a fantastic job up there for us, it took him a couple of games to get used to the forwards but once he did he has been a driving force up there and a really important”.
Noting that the Miltown Malbay man is “definitely” one of the toughest players to mark at Kilmaley training, Mikey said, “He is a handful, luckily enough I don’t have to worry about him too much, he is usually inside but when he comes out he is definitely a handful”. On the forwards he has generally been assigned to in training matches, he said, “There’s a mix and match, there isn’t any one particular player, there’s Cian Moloney, Mikey O’Neill, Eoin Enright, Tom O’Rourke, James Fitzpatrick who would be swapping and changing so it is good to get a mix and match”.
Part of the “family business” which is Clare Car & Tractors Park, Mikey is involved on the sales and marketing side of the enterprise. Customers from Inagh or Kilnamona won’t be shunned this week, he confirmed, “We’ve a lot of customers from that area, there will be a bit of ball hopping over and back but all in good jest”. His employer, his father Martin may be more lenient with hours of work over the next week or two, “I’ll have to talk to the boss about that but usually he is good to be fair”.
Living in Inch, he is more away from the border banter but still has the rivalry. “Inch is closer to Ennis so we’ve Inch, Kilmaley, Connolly so Kilmaley and Connolly would be closer to the border so I’m safe enough from that point of view. We’re neighbours so of course there’s going to be rivalry but rivalry for us is on the pitch, outside of that we’ll let the supporters and everyone else big it up between themselves and ball hop between each other, for us it is another team and we’re treating is as such”.
Thirty year old O’Malley made his senior debut for Kilmaley in 2013 aged seventeen, coming off the bench for current selector Conor Neylon at corner forward in their 1-13 1-12 loss to then champions Newmarket-on-Fergus. His starting debut saw him score four points from midfield when they defeated Tubber in the second round 2-15 1-13. “I came on against yourselves (Newmarket-on-Fergus) in 2013 the year Clare won the All-Ireland, there was a game played early in the year and there was a massive break for the summer, my first start was against Tubber in the second round,” he recalled.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, Mikey who is in his second year as captain admitted there’s no extra responsibility on his shoulders with the role of skipper. “We’ve so many players that are playing on the team that have been captain, it is going out and doing your best every time in training and games, putting your best foot forward every time you put on the jersey, that is the best way to show leadership”.
Along with the big switches, Brian Culbert has brought a consistency to Kilmaley hurling, Mikey felt. “The management team we have are with us four years, there has been steady progression year on year, last year we were unfortunate in how we went out in the semi-final but we’re glad to have made the step further and hopefully take another step on Sunday”.
On whether last year’s two point semi-final loss to Éire Óg was a driving force for Kilmaley bouncing back this season, O’Malley said, “It was and it wasn’t. With the calibre of the Clare championship we knew there was eight or nine teams that on any given day could beat each other, it is such a competitive championship that we knew we had to be on our game every day to get to that latter stage, you can’t go off the basis that you got to a semi-final last year, you have to try and get that bit better, we have got that bit better last year, thankfully we’re in the final”.
Fine margins of the Clare SHC are best captured by Conor McGrath’s last-gasp point in the final round of the 2024 group stages which sent Cratloe through to the knockout stages and eliminated Kilmaley on scoring difference. “It is just the competitiveness of the Clare championship. Below in Newmarket-on-Fergus that day it was only a puck of a ball which knocked us out of the championship, any team on any given day can beat each other”.
With the hard knocks they have shipped, the Kilmaley panel are well aware that final opportunities are rare so they must be grabbed with both hands. “For everyone on this panel it is their first time in a senior county final and the clubs first in twenty two years, we’re there, we’re hoping we can bridge that gap but we’re looking forward to this week, putting the head down and driving on”.
Twenty two years ago he was in Cusack Park as Colin Lynch lifted the Canon Hamilton. “I have vivid memories of the final whistle and everyone running onto the field, I was only eight years of age so the game itself I don’t remember too much, not a whole lot of memories from it so we’re hoping to make more,” Mikey remarked.
That it has taken Kilmaley so long to get back to a senior final has been a source of surprise locally and even for their current players such as the TUS graduate. “I didn’t think it would take so long to make a final, when you’re young and you win a lot underage you hope you can go on and bridge the gap to compete and try win the championship but it is so competitive, there’s so many teams that can win it, I’m just happy to be there now and hoping Sunday will go our way. The young lads have great heads on their shoulders, all of them do, they know themselves that it has been twenty two years since we last got to a county final, I don’t think that needs to be said, they know that themselves, it is new territory for all of us so we just embrace it and get the job done”
Whether it is mascots for every game or the support from the community for fundraisers, there is a noticeable buy-in for Kilmaley hurling. “There is a really strong bond, to be fair we’re very lucky with the supporters we have, young and old. We have the kids that are up at nearly all our training sessions and watching, encouraging us, shouting us on, the same on matchdays, the roar we got coming out onto the field against Scarifff for the start of the game and at half time was massive, we’re hoping we can have the whole club come out in numbers on Sunday week to back us, drive us on and be that sixteenth player”.
That bond and unity has fuelled their workrate which was simply off the charts in the first half of their semi-final win over Scariff. “With the way the game is gone now you need that level of workrate because there is such a ferocity and pace to the game that you need those four or five lads coming off the bench, luckily enough we’ve had that this year in abundance. Whoever has been called upon has done unbelievably well, we’d be hoping for that again on Sunday”.
A winner of U12, U14, U21A and two U18A titles with the club, the 2012 minor win was marred by a sideline altercation involving opposing mentors. “It was a famous game against Clarecastle in Sixmilebridge, Conor Cleary put the sideline over the bar with the last puck of the game, hopefully we’ll be making headlines for the right reason this time round”. Cleary has still maintained the ability to land a sideline cut, O’Malley acknowledged, “Conor has a great sideline cut on him, it is a massive asset to have in the team, there’s other lads the likes of Tommy Barry, Daire Keane, Aidan McGuane that can do it but Conor is very good at it”.
