*Young Newmarket Celtic supporters. Photograph: Joe Buckley
IT’S NEWMARKET CELTIC vs St Michael’s AFC, Clare versus Tipperary or another way of putting it Ryan Corry versus Jackie Cahill.
Two passionate soccer men, the pair both work in the world of sports communications and have strong allegiances to the clubs competing for the FAI Junior Cup title this Saturday evening in Jackman Park.
Clenagh native, Corry is currently the website and social editor at Norwich City FC while Cahill originally from Golden in Co Tipperary is the Ladies Gaelic Football Association’s Commercial and Communications Manager.
Before moving across the water, Ryan had been a Communications and Media Executive with Leinster Rugby for three years. Prior to this, he had been PRO of Newmarket Celtic FC and in 2018 was named as PRO of the Year by the FAI.
His time as PRO is well remembered by club members and often mentioned by his father, local taxi man Pat Corry. This week, Ryan recalled that among one of his favourite tweets from the time was pointing out how current kit man Owen McCarthy had a run in with the water bottle holder.
During his time as a member of the Newmarket-on-Fergus Junior B hurling side, Corry proudly stepped into the team photo before a League final with Wolfe Tones sporting a Newmarket Celtic top, an occurrence that would just have easily happened in the reverse order at McDonough Memorial Park when he served as a mentor to numerous underage sides.
While Jackie has not had an official role with St Michael’s, he has been “following their fortunes from near and afar at various matches for a good few years including the highs of winning the FAI Junior Cup and losing it”.
Ex St Michael’s player and manager James ‘Chalky’ Walsh is a close friend of Jackie’s while he would be very familiar with the likes of Jimmy Carr, Russell Quirke and Christopher Higgins. “As a big soccer fan, they are arguably the leading light in Tipperary soccer circles so they are an obvious draw,” he admitted.
Similar to Newmarket Celtic, St Michael’s started off the season more focused on transition but things have snowballed. “I think if the lads are honest with themselves they’ll admit to get this far is a nice bonus, the period of the time is viewed as being in a transitional sense, a lot of experienced players from Adrian Walsh to Paul Breen, Russell Quirke and Jimmy Carr, they like that people might have felt they have come to the end of the road, they are back in the final to try win another medal, a fuel for them is that people on the outside thought they were finished. They are under no illusion of the scale of the task or the challenge they are up against in Newmarket Celtic, I don’t think there’s going to be much between the teams in the final, it’s going to be a cracker”.
Coming from behind in their semi-final to defeat Gorey Rangers away from home was a big lift to the Tipp side. “They’ve a lot of experience, you think of Christoper Higgins he has a lot of international caps, he has a lot of service under his belt, he’s a winner and driven but had to be more content with a more substitute’s role, he came on the last day and steadied the ship. Shane Quinn did very well too when he was introduced, they showed a lot of maturity. Joey Mulcahy took two penalties very well, Jimmy Carr was carrying a knock but for his mere presence alone it was worth having him on the pitch, it was a gamble with leaving them on and he stuck with them. They have Johnny Cremins as coach, he is a serious operator and has a big part to play. From a Tipperary point of view I hope they can finish the job, they showed a lot of grit and maturity the last day and will need it again this weekend”.
Tradition between both clubs is also referenced by Cahill. “When you’re following the local junior soccer scene you become aware of the progress of clubs in other counties when you go deep into other competitions, Clare have started to make more waves in recent times no more so than Newmarket Celtic who have emerged as a standout team”.
