*Avenue Utd manager, Adrian Walsh. Photograph: Joe Buckley
THREE YEARS on from trying to take down Avenue Utd in a Cup final, Adrian Walsh now finds himself as manager of the Roslevan based club as they look to be crowned Clare Cup champions for the fourteenth time.
For the 2023 decider, Adrian guided Lifford’s A team to their first Cup final appearance in forty seven years but goals from Nnabuike Nneji and Elias Kunz helped Avenue win back to back Cup titles for the first time in twelve years.
In what is his second Cup final in four seasons as manager, there are noticeable differences between preparing Avenue and Lifford for battle. “When I was Lifford manager I was on the flipside, we were against Avenue and we would have been massive underdogs, I would consider us to have been close enough to Avenue and we won the league cup that season but one thing led to another and we played within ourselves in the final, the occasion got to us. On the flipside then with a club like Avenue you are expected to be in finals on a regular basis at all age groups, the big difference is there is an expectation that you are there, we’re deservedly there”.
That level of expectation which is stronger in Avenue has not led to increased pressure on the manager. “Lifford are gone now (the club folded in February for the remainder of the adult season). I wouldn’t feel the pressure, it comes hand and hand with it, I embrace it, I move through it and enjoy it, I work better under pressure than coasting and having it easy which is probably from my own work and career, I thrive on pressure really”.
His work as a bricklaying contractor has “pressure every day,” the Ennis native flagged. “Football is a second job which maybe overtakes my first job at times, my wife would definitely say that, we do a lot of work in Limerick which suits me in with Treaty, it goes hand in hand, it is very similar from a managing point of view, I manage ten or eleven lads on a building site, coming in to manage a dressing room is very similar, it is normal to me and there’s no big drama over it”.
Exactly a year ago this week, Walla was appointed Avenue Utd manager, having served as coach during David Russell’s final season in charge. Had it been put to him when in opposing camps to Russell, he would certainly have looked crooked at anyone who suggested they would work together in the future. “I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason, stars aligned, we ended up having a conversation over a cup of coffee which could have lasted thirty seconds and the conversation ended up lasting a couple of hours, we moved forward and here I am talking to you”.
On top of work and family life, he is also manager of the Treaty Utd U20s to which he observed that life “is busy”. He said, “I was with the U14s last season and moved to the U20s, we do morning sessions so we’re on at 7am Monday, Tuesday and Thursday so I double down on the sessions on Tuesday and Thursday with Avenue, it is a grind but it is good and it is a high level of coaching, I’m also coaching the 2016s which is my own young fellas group, they are getting another year older and there is forty seven of them here in Avenue, there’s great work being done in the Academy here from U5s all the way up to the 2012s who were in the National Cup final recently enough, there’s massive work being done, they are a few years away from being first teamers”.
Reflecting on his first season as manager, Walla admitted it was disheartening to come up short in the club’s bid to win three league titles in a row. “It has been a bitterly disappointing league season being honest about it, we had a disappointing season and we were disappointed with how we went out of Munster and the FAI and with our league campaign, we have looked that at in-house and saw different reasons for that going south, it is about rectifying it and finding a solution to move forward”.
Before the start of the season, he had intended to blood new players but he could never have foreseen the injuries that have fell their way. Last season’s squad is also without Steven McGann, Mark Roche, Jack Dunleavy, Dylan Barry and Philip Talty. “If you told me at the end of last season coming into this season that we wouldn’t have Mark Roche, Steven McGann, Elias Kunz for a game and a half, Dylan Casey for half a season, Conor Mullen for half a season, Conor Hehir for two games, Cullen McCabe for half a season, it’s a lot, it is probably the nucleus of your team for the past five years and that’s not an excuse, it is about trying to find different ways within the club and sign a few lads so we signed a few lads from Galway, Conor Finnucane, Jack Joyce, Ryan Mahony came at the start of the season before he went hurling. We’ve been trying to bleed some young lads in but sometimes the younger lads are not ready at the same time to make the step up”.
Having been out of contention for the Premier Division before the end of the season plus their 5-0 hammering in the last sixty four of the FAI Junior Cup to Coachford, Avenue have been short of do or die fixtures as of late. “It is difficult when you are out of the league and trying to motivate lads. No disrespect to Ennistymon but when you’re drawn against a Second Division side you’d nearly prefer to play Newmarket or the Bridge in the semi-final for the sharpness, the training sessions have been good and they have bought into it so it has been sharp and good, they have been on a good level”.
There’s nothing better for Avenue to whet the appetite than the chance of taking down Newmarket Celtic in a Cup final. “It is Avenue versus Newmarket, it is the biggest game in the county and I said we’re looking forward to it and the spectacle, we’re looking forward to the day and we’ll enjoy it and training during the week, you never know what is going to happen in a final but the boys will be ready”.
Beating Sporting Ennistymon 8-1 in Saturday’s final sees them enter the final as the fresher of the two sides but Walla admitted he would have preferred to have been in the other semi-final. “I would prefer the competitive game, I prefer the competitive games to get the intensity levels up, I think the two squads are probably even enough and both have a similar amount of injuries, Newmarket are more experienced in terms of being on a long road together whereas our more senior players have been out injured, they’ve been here but they haven’t been out on the pitch altogether at the same time”.
Though he described their exits from various competitions as bitterly disappointing, ending the season on a high with the Clare Cup would be the ideal ending, he said. “That would be great. We’ve won the League Cup, it would be a lesser double, you never know in a final and you don’t know what will happen”.
Three years on from his last time preparing a side for a Clare Cup, a lot has changed within Clare soccer, the former Ennis Town, Hermitage, Turnpike and Lifford footballer noted. “Lifford aren’t there anymore which is really disappointing, the general state of Clare soccer needs to be looked at, there’s no point in pointing fingers at anybody but the Premier Division clubs need to come together and say what are we doing, they seem to be coasting through season to season with no plan. I know they are talking about astro-turfing Frank Healy Park which is fantastic but what is the plan in general for youths level and first-team level”.
Looking back on year one with Avenue, Adrian has enjoyed the campaign despite the many hurdles. “I love it, it is a great club, a fantastic squad, all the people considering a lot of people would have gone ‘Walla will never go to Avenue’ but there was always a respect and from the outside looking in it would be a rivalry from a personal thing for me of jealousy but I’ve been welcomed by open arms from everyone in the committee. I am engrained in the club, my young lad is an U10 so I’m not going anywhere at the minute, I know I’m busy but as it stands right now I’m here and I’m looking forward to Saturday’s game, I’ll take a long break, a long hard-earned break after that and see where the wind takes me”.
