‘We’ll be thinking of it just as a normal game’
HE has experienced the heartbreak, anguish and trepidation that Newtown United have gone through but Ben O’Callaghan would be delighted to inflict a bit more on the Magpies.
The Glencormac United captain was on the losing side three times for Kilmacanogue GAA in championship finals so can empathise with Newtown following their Wicklow Cup final defeats in 2016 and 2017.
Despite that, O’Callaghan hopes to ramp up their despair by causing an upset at the Carlisle Grounds on Sunday.
“It’s pretty tough to pick yourself up and go again and again and again, especially when you get to the final and you can just feel so much pressure on the day to win it. It is tough.
“On the flip side of it, I know exactly what it’s like to lose so to be able to do that to them would be great! The winning feeling is just amazing so to get that again on Sunday would be brilliant.”
At 24, O’Callaghan gives up 12 years on Newtown captain Neil Martin. O’Callaghan is the oldest of four boys and all four are dedicated Glencormac players but only three will play on Sunday as Josh spent the season in America. O’Callaghan doesn’t consider himself a verbal leader but is enjoying the atmosphere in his household, even it is interrupting with the small matter of some state exams.
“I’m quiet enough but I think I probably lead a bit more on the pitch in some ways. I suppose playing in centre mid kind of helps you to be a leader in the middle.
“We’re all looking forward to it. Sam has his leaving cert so the studies have been put on hold for the game!”
A victory over Newtown on Sunday would see Glencormac remain on course for a possible treble - not something that O’Callaghan would have dreamed of at the start of the season but he is enjoying every second of this journey.
“Definitely not. Last season went bad enough and even at the start of this season, we were struggling to get players up so we never really thought anything could happen. It was only after Christmas that we got a really good run of games that we started to think that something might happen.
“You’d obviously think it’s nice (a run in the Wicklow Cup) but you wouldn’t expect to get anywhere with it. The fact that we have come so far is just amazing. Finding out that Ashford were top of the Premier Division just made us realise what we’d done. It made us feel like we could do it and why not.”
Despite one meeting with Newtown this season, O’Callaghan admits he and his team-mates wouldn’t be basked in knowledge of their Magpies. They know all about their reputation but they won’t fear them.
“We were missing a few lads that day so I think with a full squad, we’ll definitely be in with a good shout.
“We kind of go into it blindly in some ways and not knowing what they’re like but we’ve beaten Ashford in that league and we’ve beaten Carnew so why not beat Newtown? There’s no difference there.
“I’d know a few of the names. I only started playing soccer with the Glens about a year and a half ago so I wouldn’t have known too much about them but you’d always hear of Newtown and you’d know they’re a strong side.
“As we’ve said before, because we’ve beaten the likes of Ashford and Carnew, we have that feeling of why not? Why can’t we beat Newtown?”
If they put those words into practice and beat Newtown, O’Callaghan would go down in history as the first ever Glencormac United to lift the Wicklow Cup.
That notion seems to momentarily dazzle him but the grounded young man is not in it for the personal glory.
“It’s amazing now that you say it but I haven’t really been thinking about it that way. It’s not about me - it’s about the team. It’s doing it for the likes of Mull, Trevor Carr, Christy Devlin and all those lads that have been around. We want to do it for them. It’s not for our own gain as such.”
The odds may not be favouring Glencormac United but that doesn’t faze O’Callaghan. Like any good captain, he is backing his troops and will lead them onto the battlefield with nothing but victory on their minds.
“It’s more of ‘yeah we can win this’. There’s no doubts. There’s no reason to doubt ourselves, we’ve done so well this season. We’ve no reason to doubt ourselves.
“We’ll be thinking of it as just a normal game and I won’t let it distract me and I hope the other lads will be the same. I’ll try and talk to them at training and just remind them to settle down and go out as normal.
“I’ve heard a couple of rumours that they’re confident enough about getting us and the fact that they’ve beaten us already has them confident but we’re there to surprise them and get one over on them.”