ERE CROWNED KINGS
a few chances. As it worked out, Darren came back on early in the second-half and we got the extra scores to pull it back.
‘You could see that, just as they thought that they had it on the first day, they thought that they had it on the second day, as well. We just wouldn’t go away. As the game wore on in extra-time, they just had no answer for us. Our lads pushed and pushed and pushed. It had been such a tight competition for two hours, yet we pulled away to win by nine points. Crazy stuff.’
Pull away in extra-time, they did. In rounds past, Rathnew were made to play a total of seven games in nine weeks. This was not an opportunity that they were going to let slip by. Finally, after clipping away at the scoreboard to separate themselves from Na Fianna, Tommy Gill outmuscled goalkeeper Stephen Gray for the final goal of what was a pulsating day of football.
Watching Trevor lift the cup over his head with the sort of unbridled jubilance not often seen in a world in which victorious captains celebrate success with an element of unnatural restraint, illustrated what it meant for the club from the small village in the south of the county.
‘Ah, Jaysus,’ Trevor giggles when he is asked about the emotion on his face as he violently shook the cup like it was a bottle of champagne that was about to explode open. ‘There was a bit of relief that we had done it, you know; we were actually going to be able to celebrate Christmas instead of having to go for another replay.
‘We never really got carried away with where we were. As you know with football, it doesn’t work like that. You have to go through all of the motions with replays and stuff like that. You never think, ‘aw yeah, this is our year.’
‘There was huge belief that we could win, you know, because that was our sixth championship in-a-row in Wicklow and, previous to that, we had had a couple of (Leinster) semi-finals, so we knew that, at some stage, we would get to a final.’
While Trevor expressed relief at finally winning the big one after years of county dominance, it also acted as vindication for Wicklow football, in the eyes of his manager.
‘Outside of Wicklow, people don’t generally give you the credit for what you achieve. Everyone in Wicklow knows how hard it is to win a championship, but the reception outside is different. Everyone involved in the game in Wicklow knows that it is a tough, tough championship to win, so for us to get out of it was a massive achievement.
Both men testified that it was the team’s ungodly fitness levels that helped them over the line. Throughout their provincial campaign, the team played a total of eight hours of high-intensity football across the seven games, including both games against Na Fianna.
Their conditioning is credited in part to Brian Brennan and the Arklow Bay Hotel. Every Monday night, the players would travel down to the hotel for swimming work, which would then lead on to their regular training sessions on Tuesday and Thursday nights.
‘A lot of us were really, really fit and trained very hard. To win championships, you have to train very hard, and that group trained really hard. There was a core of 20 or 22 lads that would have trained really hard,’ Trevor explains, before Harry continues: ‘Up to the day, you try to keep it going as best you can. The players were always trying to push themselves. It was always very competitive between all of the lads.’
Anybody who has been present at matches in Rathnew, be it football or hurling, knows that it is often the case where the entire community comes together to cheer on any given team on any given day. The club winning the Leinster championship in 2001 was an achievement for more than just those who took to the pitch or those who barked instructions from the sideline in Navan; it was a triumph that the entire community shared.
‘One thing that sticks in my memory was that, on the bus back home, we had to stop for some food and some drinks. We were late enough getting back – around half 11/12pm – yet the whole village was thronged. It was unbelievable,’ Harry Murphy remembers fondly, as does Trevor Doyle.
‘Normally, when we would win a championship, you would have all of the people from Rathnew; in ’96, all of the other village people were out to welcome us home. That night, there were probably 3,500-4,000 people. That was people from Rathnew, Wicklow Town, Ashford, Glenealy. People came from Annacurra just to see us come in, which was really special.
‘One of our greatest Gaels, Ann McDonald, passed away this year, so it is a bit ironic that you are talking to me about this; she was the catalyst for all of this. Without her, the club probably wouldn’t be where it is today.’
Rathnew will continue to nurture teams to challenge for county championships, such is the passion for the sport that pulses throughout the village and the track record of producing talented players.
However, for the time being, the class of 2001 will stand tall over all others as the panel that made history by conquering the much-coveted Leinster senior club football championship.