*Éire Óg manager, Paul Madden. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
Dealing with big occasions are nothing new for Éire Óg manager, Paul Madden but he still expects to contend with nerves as the Ennis club take on Kilmurry Ibrickane in Sunday’s county football final.
Advancing from the group stages was the target for Éire Óg from the beginning of the year, they began with an impressive win over Lissycasey but fell to a shock defeat versus Clondegad before sealing a place in the quarter-finals by defeating Doonbeg. “If we got out of the group we were going to try and see could we learn from past failings being four consecutive quarter-final losses,” Madden explained of their initial objective.
Losing to Clondegad was what he labelled a “retrievable setback”. He recalled that they had been playing very good football in previous group campaigns before producing a poor display when it counted, this has not been the case in 2021. “I’ve always felt we’ve had good players but I think you would have to say there’s an element of maturity this year, a lot of our lads two years ago when they lost to Doonbeg in the quarter-final were only nineteen or twenty years of age, an extra couple of years brings you on considerably physically and mentally, maybe just maybe the experience of harrowing defeats gave us more steel”.
Beating Doonbeg in Kilmihil was “a minor mental thing for the players” as it saw the Townies prevail at a West Clare venue having exited the championship to Kilmurry Ibrickane in Cooraclare last year and Doonbeg in Miltown Malbay a year previous. “For me I could never understand this logic, I don’t think we played anywhere but West Clare unless we got to a county final previously, we had great successes over the years back in Kilmihil and places like that. For this group, they were probably young enough and had been half told they couldn’t win back in West Clare but it is a pitch with fifteen against fifteen, maybe there was a little mental thing there but certainly winning that game was a monkey off the back but I felt it was a monkey that should never have been there because if you look at the history of Éire Óg in the last ten to fifteen years, the last time we were in a county final was 2014 when we won two consecutive games against two strong physical teams back in Kilmihil to get there”.
Paul balances the role of manager with that of owner of the Temple Gate Hotel plus his family commitments. “You’re not going to do it unless you love it, I enjoy it even though it is strenuous and it does take up a lot of time, I’m fortunate that I do work for myself, it has the knock-on effect outside of it to my family because if I’m not involved in the hotel day to day then I’m probably involved with Éire Óg and even when I’m at home the phone is on always, that is hard work and there is a shelf life to it, there’s no question about it, you go in put it in as best you can for as long as you can but it really is about the club and your commitment to the club and in this case the players, backroom team and executive. I would be a very passionate Éire Óg man whether it is hurling, football, camogie or ladies football, if you have that passion you will give a commitment but at some point in time your work/life balance has to come into play”.
His first medal with the club was at U10 level in 1984 while his last medal “of significance” before heading abroad was a minor title in 1992, a side which was captained by his selector Peter Cosgrove. He returned from London in 2003 linking up with the senior football panel and a year later had his first county final experience as a player as they lost out to Kilmurry Ibrickane.
“Coincidentally Aiden Moloney captained the Kilmurry Ibrickane team in 2004 when they beat us after a replay. Part of being a manager when it is a hotel or anything is you develop experience from dealing with occasions and situations, there’s no question that I’ll be nervous the day of the match because it means so much to me and to the parish, the club and the town of Ennis to represent ourselves well on the day but you learn how to deal with experiences with maturity and with my line of work I’ve had to put myself in certain positions in the past where a big occasion comes up but it will be a fantastic occasion and I’m looking forward to it,” he noted.
Assumptions of Éire Óg from the outside looking in can tend to be inaccurate, the Shannon College of Hotel Management graduate explained. “I was eight years of age when I first went up to the club, my mother dropped me up one day, once I went in the gate really and truly it has formed the majority of my life, the core friends that I developed underage with Éire Óg would still be my core friends, it is like a second family. People sometimes lose the sense of that when they talk about Éire Óg because it is a big town but it is a small club in a big town, there is a good connection between people and a lot of friendships built up over the years”.
This year when asked by the Club Executive to remain on as manager, Paul after mulling over on the offer decided to freshen up his management team with ex Limerick footballer Seanie Buckley joining as coach while Peter Cosgrove and Shane Daniels became selectors as the trio of James Hanrahan, Alan Malone and Stephen McNamara bowed out. The “phenomenal” Tom Russell remained in the backroom team and has been joined by Rory O’Brien.
Éire Óg’s panel strength is demonstrated in the fact that they have reached the final despite being without one of their best performers during Madden’s tenure, defender Cathal Darcy who suffered a cruciate ligament injury earlier this year. “From the minute I laid eyes on him at U16 level I knew he was a great bit of stuff, when it comes to a battle he will never be found wanting and he can play. Kilmaley missed him dearly for the senior hurling this year. You’d love to have a fit Cathal Darcy, the big debate would be who would he get in instead of and that is a fantastic debate to have, he has always played when he has been fit, he will play again”.
Taking down the “standard bearers” of Clare football is the task ahead of Éire Óg this weekend. “We would love to form a rivalry with them, the reality is year in year out for the last number of years they have been contesting finals and winning them, we have flattered to deceive and maybe in the last two decades people would maintain with the quality of panels we have that we haven’t achieved as much as we should have but you don’t get anything easy in club football and in Clare, it would suggest that Kilmurry Ibrickane have never rested on their laurels, they’ve always worked hard, they are a great club, they have great structures in place and take their football very seriously. Some of them are going for nine or ten championships this weekend, collectively as a group we don’t have that, it includes the management and players, you’d have to admire and respect that”.
The 2004 final that gave Paul his first taste of a senior final as a panellist was “a cracker”, Sunday’s clash will be his first experience of the occasion as a manager, he doesn’t mind how entertaining the game is as long as the result goes their way. “Finals are for winning, we’ve taken every game at a time, this one is no different, the preparations have been the same, we lost our hurling semi-final at the weekend which has been bitterly disappointing for everyone, we were flat on the day and I’m just hoping we’re not like that again on Sunday because if we are, we won’t win. Certainly we’ll have to bring our best performance of the year to win on Sunday, I’m convinced of that, that’s the way it should be going into the final. When you look at the roll of honour, it will not say so and so won a county championship playing badly it will just say so and so won a county championship but I still maintain for Éire Óg to win we’re going to have to put in our best performance of the year and that is a challenge for us”.
