*Paul Reidy speaking to Seamus Hayes. Photograph: John Mangan
POST-PRIMARY schools football is vital for the development of future county players, the manager of the St Joseph’s Spanish Point partaking in Saturday’s All-Ireland Senior D football final has said.
“Football is a long standing tradition here in the school, it’s been here long before I ever came to the school, according to St. Josephs Spanish Point school principal Paul Reidy who heads up the three man management team of the school’s senior footballers who are one step away from being crowned All-Ireland champions.
“It was brought home this year the work that John O’Sullivan, one of our recent retirees. had done for football here over thirty to thirty five years was huge. For myself, Paul Dillon and Sean O’Brien coming in it is about taking up the mantle and making sure that football continues as a strong part of our school for both ladies and men. It’s a huge part of our school and it has been important for the development of our school over the years, bringing students in here and, most of all, making students happy to be here in school”, the Kilmihil native said.
Paul who is Chairman of his own club in Kilmhil flagged, “We lost very few of last year’s team and we didn’t make it very far last year. Probably one of the things that helped our team is the fact that eleven or twelve of the team played adult football with theirs clubs last year. We have to give huge credit to the clubs. The structure of the under 21 championship also helped greatly in that players were training hard with their clubs into December so they were in great shape all the time and all we had to do was to keep the wheel turning and keep them going”.
This fitness has been a big asset, he maintained. “We did feel at the start of the Clare colleges campaign that the players were in serious shape fitness wise and they had the experience of playing adult football. We beat Ennistymon by a point in the early rounds and we did feel that there is a bit about this team as they kicked the last four points to win by a point. We, the management, felt that we needed to maximise this potential. From early on we knew there was a good group but you can’t take anything for granted. Munster competition is tough, you could meet a team and not play up to standard on the say and you are out”.
“We had two competitions running side by side. Every college gets the opportunity to play in Munster. The Clare competition culminated in that great final down in Cooraclare under lights. We were probably lucky to get out but I said to the players in the dressing room afterwards that we probably didn’t deserve to win the game but we definitely wouldn’t have won it if we hadn’t the work done. We came strong with ten minutes to go. It’s been a work in progress since the start of the year. We are looking for that one more big performance to try and get over the line now”, Paul told The Clare Echo.
He continued, “You want your players to experience the biggest days of playing at a higher level all the time and, in fairness to the Clare senior footballers being up in division 2 and holding that for so long is exposing all the Clare footballers to the highest stand of football. In fairness to the school, playing in a county final, playing in an All-Ireland semi-final and final, those are memories and experiences that, hopefully, for the likes of the captains Josh (Moloney) and Sean Neylon will elevate them to another level and show them that the prize is huge out there. These are huge experiences and for us as a school whether its young scientist, drama, music or whatever, you want your students to have a good experience.
“For those guys that played last week in the semi-final, it was probably one of the best experiences they have had. Hopefully playing in an All-Ireland final in front of a big crowd is something they will never forget”, the school principal added.
Reidy continued, “it doesn’t matter the grade or the level, All-Ireland semi-final and final is huge competition. There will be a point or two either way whoever wins it. The margins have got a lot tighter. They are a very good side but so are we. We have grown together, we have improved as the year went on and there is a real determination amongst our boys to be successful. We could have lied down in the semi final but we came stronger. We went to Kerry and Tipperary for games and we actually played Abbey from Tipp town who are in the All-Ireland B final. We had a brilliant challenge with them. We have a lot of work done but it doesn’t mean we are going to win the final. We are confident as a group of players and as a management that there isn’t anything more we could have done. We have given it our all, What will be will be. We are confident going into the final that we couldn’t have done any more going into this”.
“We want the team to perform at their best and we don’t want them to get caught up in the occasion. I don’t think any player wouldn’t want a big crowd there. It’s all part of the occasion, it’s all life experience. Hopefully a lot of these boys will go on to play in county senior finals what will have bigger crowds there and go on to play for Clare in Munster championship. This is part of their development. Schools football is a really important part of all players development. Some schools around the country don’t take it seriously but you only have to look at the market leaders, Kilkenny in hurling and Kerry in football. Post primary schools hurling and football is so important. Any county that wants to progress their football, post primary schools football is so important”, Paul concluded.
