The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
O’Shea managing just fine
Dan Kearney got the delighted reaction of the Glenbeigh/Glencar manager Aidan O’Shea and some of the players after the Mid Kerry club was crowned Munster Club Junior champions
GLENBEIGH/GLENCAR manager Aidan O’Shea hasn’t enjoyed tghe best of luck as a footballer.
Always playing under the long shadow of expectation that his family name and famous father cast beside him, Aidan had enough of his own talent to make it all the way to wearing the Kerry green and gold for the seniors, but fate had another path for him.
Bedevilled by injury throughout his early twenties - groin, hips Jack O’Shea’s very talented son had to hang up his playing boots. It was a premature and acutely disappointing end to a football career that promised so much, but now he has found a new involvement in the game, still wearing football boots, only now the other side of the whitewash.
It’s not what he would have wanted at 31 years of age, but Aidan O’Shea has found his calling. The buzz and the enjoyment and the victories still coming his way, only this time as manager. His own man.
“It’s a great day for everyone from the parish, and for everyone in the club,” O’Shea said as his team called themselves champions of Munster. “They don’t come around too often so you have to make the most of them when they do, thankfully we took our chance today and we are after joining a long list of Kerry clubs by winning the Munster Junior Championship”.
O’Shea felt that their good start to the second half was vital.
“We have been in winning situations a few times this year but have come out of the dressing room a bit lethargic so we made a point of attacking the game in the second half and in fairness we tagged on a few early scores, we might have started to get a bit greedy at times but the work rate never dropped and that showed in the end. We are playing Louisbourg from Mayo in the semi final so we won’t get ahead of ourselves by any means, we will try and play a few challenge matches to keep ticking over and get the balance right”.
The previous weekend Glenbeigh/Glencar lost in the Mid Kerry championship semi-final to Beaufort and O’Shea felt that this may have helped focus the mindset for the Munster final.
“We were very disappointed last weekend, we were beaten comprehensively 2-14 to 0-17 but we still kicked 17 points although playing poorly, we stopped doing the things that we are good at like working the ball around and being patient, I don’t know was that the reason why we won today, but it certainly helped to focus the minds,” he said. GLENBEIGH/GLENCAR half forward Tommy Cahill felt that the heartache of the last few years was central to their success.
“It was a great performance, we didn’t know what to expect from Gabriel Rangers, we are over the moon, it’s history in the club, it’s our first time ever. We’ve had heartache over the last few years ,but we put the work in again this year, we said to each other that we would never give up, and they say that winners never quit so we are delighted. It makes it ten times sweeter, we will be looking forward to the All Ireland semi-final after the Christmas.”
Centre half back Pa Kilkenny felt that keeping the Gabriel Rangers scoring threat to a minimum was vital.
“We are delighted. Gabriel Rangers had scored a lot coming up so we were wary of them. We did a lot of work on them, they had a great free taker so we tried to keep the frees to the minimum, I think that they scored something like 20 goals in their last 11 games so we put a big emphasis
on that and thankfully it worked out today”.
Substitute Bernard Murphy, who came off the bench to score a good point, insisted that the players on the pitch have to perform.
“It’s all about the team, whoever gets on has to do the business, it’s mighty, a great feeling, I’m a bit speechless but hopefully we will drive on another bit again now. We knew that we needed a good start, we got the goals in the first half which was a great boost and we drove on from there”.
Young star Caolim Teahan was delighted during the week that he would start the game.
“I heard during the week that I was in the team and I’m delighted. Daniel Griffin is a great player as well, he was unlucky not to get his place, we have a strong panel so it’s great to win a Munster final as a starting player”.
Veteran midfielder Fergal Griffin felt that there was still a bit of work to be done.
“It was a great performance today and in fairness to Aidan ,John and Peter they have really gotten us to focus on the skills of the game at training, we generally try to play positive football and our kicking and passing was excellent in the first half, everything clicked.
“We were a bit loose at times and might have given away a few soft turnovers and sloppy frees but I suppose that can happen in every game so it’s just something to work on.”