“This team won’t be defined by one game”
MALLOW team coach Dermot O’Riordan has been around the block at this stage and hopefully it’s not overstating it to say he is now doing a job he was always destined for.
After hurling with Mallow through all the grades back in the day his subsequent coaching life has seen him win many things with a host of teams which ultimately got the master tactician the gig at Mallow.
“I am thrilled to be here. I hurled every grade for Mallow and consider Mallow my town. I love this town and love the club. I never knew if I would ever get the chance or not to coach Mallow so I always gave my best to every club and every team I worked with. If the opportunity ever came along I was always going to take it and thankfully three years ago it did.”
O’Riordan was adamant that despite his side failing to make it to senior grade as of yet this particular bunch of young stars have been hugely successful under his and Joe Buckley’s stewardship.
“We have competed in three Premier Intermediate semi-finals losing one by a point, one by two points and winning the other as well as contesting two Premier Intermediate League finals in the last three years, so I genuinely believe that this side have been successful. Hopefully now we can grab the big prize this weekend but let’s be clear, this side will not be defined by this one game. The players, the team and this club are much better than that. This is much more important than that.
“You can’t define what all these people here have given in one 60 minute game. It is the same if we win. It still won’t define these lads that have given so much to their town, their families and their club. I have nothing but respect for this marvellous bunch of young fellas with a marvellous future ahead of them. There is a big future ahead of this team whether they win or lose on Saturday night.”
Up the last Saturday night when the club’s footballers booked their place in their county final things were clear enough on the injury front.
“The lead up has been grand,” O’Riordan said. “Of course with the success of the footballers we have had to alternate codes every week but other than that things have gone fine. We have a few injuries but we will need to wait and see.
Managers and coaches constantly bombard us with statements about how young their teams are as a way of defecting expectation, but in fairness to Mallow’s coach he really has a point in this case.
“They are a really young team. One of the youngest around. The average age is 22 or 23 and take out Donal Relihan and it is even lower. They have a great hunger to learn, to play well and succeed and they have shown in the last two years in particular that this team have a tremendous ability to bounce back.”
While there have been setbacks along the way O’Riordan is clear that the philosophy will remain the same.
“I believe in attacking hurling, defend properly, do the basics right and that is how this side have played and will play. That said I always encourage this team to be battlers and go into the trenches if they have to.”
So who is going to win? O’Riordan is as much in the dark as the rest of us.
“Honestly, the margins here are going to be so fine that I couldn’t answer that. It could be someone that has previously been out of the limelight and will now step up and win the county final with a moment of magic. I think this one will go to the wire. Two fine hurling teams who play hurling the proper way will battle it out and perhaps who ever has that bit of luck on the night will do it.”