*Corofin’s James Organ splits the posts. Photograph: Ruthie Griffin.
COROFIN forward James Organ has scaled Mount Kilimanjaro but is fighting the clock to try play a part in their pursuit to climb the steps of Cusack Park and secure promotion back to the Clare SHC.
Organ sustained a hamstring injury with sixty nine minutes played in Corofin’s extra time quarter-final win over Bodyke which has kept him out of action over the last month.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, James said he was hopeful of featuring in Saturday’s final but hinted that an appearance for the full hour was unlikely. “It is hard to know, you take it for granted not being injured, you think it will all go well, it was only the last day when I was sitting out how much you miss playing and how much you take it for granted. It’s hard to know, I’d like to hopefully get a few minutes but it is early days and I’m doing a lot of rehab, hopefully I can get a few minutes”.
Recalling the moment the injury occurred, he said, “I pulled the hamstring running out for a ball, tired legs in extra time mean it will always be difficult”.
Unfortunately the former Clare U20 forward has had his share of injuries this season. “I missed the last championship when we won in 2023 due to a different issue with the hamstring, I missed a lot of that and was only back for the semi-final and final so I’ve had a few seasons where injuries have caused issues. I tore ligaments in my ankle in the league so I’ve had a stop start year this year, it’s been the most stop start for any year really, I haven’t played much games at all”.
Both he and Cillian McGroary were sidelined with hamstring injuries for the semi-final win over Whitegate, McGroary having missed the entire Bodyke tie also. “Being on the sideline completely changes your perspective of things, when you’re in the game you’re so focused on your own performance, your own ball, you don’t take in the full team perspective, on the sideline you feel every hit harder, there was times when I wanted to run out myself and go in for a tackle, it changes your perspective on things. You notice everything a bit more because you are fully observant,” James outlined.
Of the duo, Organ could profess to be more silent injured panellist. “I wouldn’t be the biggest shouter but I found when the game was in the dying stages I was hoarse the next morning because of it”.
Currently on placement at Seamount College in Kinvara, the final year student at UL is on course to qualify as a PE and geography teacher. Inadvertently he was testing the hamstring more than he should have during a PE class on Monday morning, “I was doing circuits with one class and I was demonstrating one of the exercises and I then realised I probably shouldn’t be doing this with the county final coming up”.
In September 2024, he traded Mullaghmore for Tanzania and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. He shares a passion for photography and the outdoors while his most recent trip was to Jordan. “Over the winter I went to Jordan in the Middle East which was really nice. I spent a week there which was really cool. Back in the day I used to take hurling too seriously, it was my life so if I played a bad game or had a bad session it would take over my life so recently I realised there’s more to life. When hurling is done, I like to take my mind off it and I find it benefits my hurling more, I can take my mind off it and I can find something else to do and enjoy. Jordan was amazing, it was an incredible experience”.
On how his approach has changed, Organ who lives on “the Toonagh side of the parish” explained, “Usually if I had a bad game before I would sit in bed all day and dwell about it, I find now I like to get out and do things whether it is going for a hike or something nice, I do photography, if you can get out and do something else to take your mind off it then it helps so much more, even meeting friends and different people, I used to linger with the negative thoughts which are not good for anyone. Having somewhere else to put your energy and focus after a match is really important”.
There isn’t too much commentary from his teammates regarding his outdoor pursuits. “A lot of them are really appreciative, they would be asking how you are getting on, it is not for everyone and everyone has their own different ways, it is what I find that I enjoy and it works for me, I’m happy to do it. A lot of people like the management are appreciative, they are asking how I’m getting on, they’re happy as long as I don’t go climbing any big mountains before matches”.
Relegated from senior last year and without a win in this year’s Clare Cup which sees them drop down to Division 2 next year, there was a bit of trediptation when Corofin began life back in the second tier, he admitted. “You would be a bit anxious like any team because we were relegated and we had a poor enough league, you would always be a bit anxious in the back of your mind on whether it would be our year or not but the more we started playing like we were disappointed to lose the first game against Tubber but we felt we had so much more in us so even though we lost we knew that we could definitely do this and we felt we were so much better than Tubber on the day. Going from there we upped the training once championship started and we felt something good was happening”.
Examining the gap between the first and second tier is “hard to know,” the twenty one year old maintained. “You look at a lot of teams going up and down like O’Callaghans Mills, all of us were disappointed with the showing we gave at senior level. We drew wIth Clooney/Quin in our last year, we should have beaten Broadford, we were up at half time, we showed ourselves that when we were at it that we could stand up to some of the big senior teams. We were disappointed with our performances, I’m not sure what the gap is, when you see teams coming up and down you wonder but we’ve shown we can stand our own in senior when we give it our all, it would be great to go back and give it another go, I think everyone else wants another go at going back up and trying to put some points on the board”.
As one of the few ‘hurling-only’ players on the Corofin camp, all his eggs are in the basket of trying to lift the Paddy Browne Cup as it defines his sporting year. “I know a lot of the footballers say they are happy to have the hurling because when they lose the football at least their season isn’t done and they still have the hurling to go after and have extra motivation for. For me it is hurling or nothing so I have a lot on the line but that is how I like it, I enjoy having a singular focus”.
Once the footballers concluded their campaign, James noticed a marked improvement in the touch and sharpness of his teammates. “Being able to put more time into hurling training is massive, before you are splitting sessions or doing hurling only and football only sessions so you’re not getting as much of a touch in or what not, it does make a big difference, since it has been hurling only we have been way sharper, everything has clicked better as a result of getting more time in hurling so that is definitely a negative of the dual, I do think there’s a lot of positives but the negative is for a sport so technical like hurling that you’re not getting as much touches or practice in”.
Regardless of the code, Corofin has great spirit, the former St Flannan’s College student believed. “One of the good things about the club is everyone is supportive of each other, everyone is understanding, the community spirit is massive, I don’t know if it is a thing in rural clubs but it is a thing I’ve experienced with Corofin where the community spirit is massive, everyone has each other’s back and everyone is there to support each other which is very encouraging, you enjoy going to training because it is meeting your friends”.
Though only four to five years separate him and teammates like Conor Leen and Diarmuid Cahill, their achievements motivated all around them. “I was probably on the younger side of the golden age teams, I didn’t win too much, I won Minor A when I was U15, that was the biggest thing I won at underage, for the rest of it my age-group was always in B or C divisions, we took so much motivation from the older teams ahead of us like Conor Leen, Diarmuid Cahill, they were winning so much which encouraged us even though we aren’t as successful we were looking up to them and saw what was possible”.
