Fleming hoping to guide his side to safe waters
PAT Fleming plans to run a steady ship this year with no room for stowaways.
He is the new man in the dugout hoping to guide Carnew to safe waters as they dip their toes in the top flight.
The reigning second tier champions suffered a mixed season as they controversially secured a league title whilst missing out on potential cup glory over the fielding of certain players.
Fleming has been happily doing a fine ostrich impression for the last five or six years but has been tempted back this campaign and has no intentions of running foul of the Wicklow League now that he’s in charge.
He admits that he’s been ‘completely out of the loop’ for the last five or six years. He’s a former Carnew and Shillelagh United star who then guided a Carnew GAA team from U-10’s up to minors. And the bulk of that same squad are now hitting their peak with the team he has now inherited.
“I was kind of hoping to get back into it and then United approached me and said that they had a young team and they wanted a bit of a push behind them.
“It’s the same bunch of lads I probably would’ve been involved with seven/eight years ago when they were (GAA) minors. There was a lot of the young lads (players) themselves that approached me as well so they came to me and asked me would I be interested and would I want to do it again and I agreed. They showed an interest in me so I showed an interest in them.”
Fleming is greatly encouraged by what he has seen so far even if GAA commitments are leaving him lingering in the starting blocks.
“At the moment, there’s a lot of very good young footballers. I said we’ll give it a go and see what happens. They have huge potential. It’s tapping into the potential (that’s the problem) as the lad says.
“They’re a little bit tied up with GAA at the moment. We’ve done five or six training sessions and we played Parkville (United) from Tullow last Sunday up there and we beat them 3-1. They’d be very handy. I leaned a little bit more about them.
“They’re a very fresh young team and full of ambition.”
Fleming expects to be assisted by his brother Bill in due course and between them, they’ll be hoping to steer Carnew to a trouble-free and successful campaign.
“Last year they missed out on a cup over some controversy over players so I’ve told them this year, I’ve met with them all, and I told them that everything has to be done properly.
“A certain amount of discipline is required within the club. My opinion is that the club has lots of potential but it hasn’t been tapped into properly.
“I know there has been controversy around the Wicklow League. I want to keep it fresh. I don’t want to get involved in anything like that. I want my laps to turn up on a Sunday and play and perform and be fully committed.”