Anyone can beat anyone ‘He’s brought a freshness to the group’

Michael Neary

MICK NEARY knows how important Andy O’Brien will be for his St. Patrick’s side as they look to bridge the gap on what he views as the big three - Glenealy, Bray Emmets and Carnew.

The scoring machine can down any side on his day with the right support but does Neary believe he has enough quality throughout his side to go all the way?

“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think they could. We were very disappointed last year. I think the competition will be different this year and we have to improve a lot too to compete with the top three or four. If we get ourselves right, we’re in the mix.”

Neary was left frustrated by the loss of his goalkeeper and he believes it cost them but he is optimistic for the future with things looking solid between the posts for his side.

“We were very happy last year. We went straight to the semi-final last year.

‘There were a couple of little things - we lost our goalkeeper last year for the last couple of matches which was a big loss because he was having a brilliant year. That proved very costly to us in the last few minutes of the match against Bray. We’d hope to have a goalkeeper back at some date.”

The Kilcoole man cannot wait to get stuck into this year’s competition and try to mastermind a way to infiltrate the trio of Glenealy, Bray and Carnew.

“The championship is great. It’s a six-team draw and it’ll be very competitive because anyone can beat anyone in the competition.

“I think Glenealy and Bray and Carnew - Carnew have stepped it up a lot this year - I think the three of them will be very strong and the next three, it’ll be interesting to see how they play. Glenealy were obviously worthy winners last year and Bray will have been very disappointed to relinquish their title but they’ve a new manager in and that’ll put a huge emphasis on their preparation.

“Mikey Lee transferred away from Bray and over the last number of years, it’s been the same few players who were capable of winning or losing you a championship and he’ll be a loss for them but they have Christy Moorehouse back fit this year after injury so that’ll be a plus for them.

“Glenealy will be very anxious to win it and they’ll be strong.

‘Carnew will be very hard to beat too.” While Bray have lost Lee, Pat’s will be delighted to have Andy O’Brien tormenting defences yet again this year and Neary knows how vital the attacker is to his cause.

“He is a very strong player and he had an exceptional year last year. The scores he got were brilliant. I’d hope that come September, he’ll be back to that form when we really need it.”

Wayne Kinsella

THE announcement of James Hickey taking over the reins at Carnew Emmets raised a few eyebrows earlier this year. There’s very few who don’t know of the Mount Leinster Rangers and Carlow legend, if not from the playing fields then from the AIB advert where he implores his clubmates to drive on to the All-Ireland club championship final.

Hickey is pure passion and his infleunce on the Carnew players has been noticeable. Carnew captain Wayne Kinsella agrees.

‘Yeah, 100 per cent. James came in and he’s brought a freshness to the whole group and he’s just a very passionate man. It’s something that we needed. We needed a bit of a fightback in us, it’s hard to explain it. He’s revived something in us anyway.

‘He’s big on discipline. We’re trying to work hard on that and trying to improve that aspect of the game and not be getting ourselves in trouble for nothing. It was something that was letting us down in recent years, getting red cards or getting balls brought up or whatever, he’s big on making sure we cut that down and concentrate on our own game.

‘The man is very passionate, he loves getting stuck into us’.

Last season will go down as a forgettable one. The passion from within the players just wasn’t there.

‘Last year was a bad year for us, I don’t know, we never got going and then we got kind of unlucky against Greystones because if we had beaten them you’d never know what might have happened in the semi-finals. I don’t know, a bit of bad luck and a bit of...we hadn’t got the same drive as we have this year, James has brought a bit of drive back into us this year and we’re after winning the league there now and we want to just drive on.

First up for Hickey’s men is the old enemy. ‘Ah sure, we’re playing Glenealy, and it’s going to be a whole different game than the league final. They were missing a few lads for that and we’ve a few lads injured but sure, you know yourself, it’s Carnew against Glenealy, it’ll be a good match.

Getting the nod for the captaincy was a huge honour for Kinsella.

‘James just rang me and said him and the selectors were talking and that he was putting my name forward and he rang me back then and asked me and I was hugely honoured to take it.

‘It was massive. I always wanted to be captain since I was a young lad. I wasn’t expecting it. It’s great to be picked.

‘I’ve been playing since I was six and I’ve been looking up at them lads, some of the lads I’m still playing with even, andit’s a huge honour.’