Ready and waiting
Hickey looking forward to battle
A handy nixer for James Hickey would be motivational speeches. He commands attention when he speaks. There’s an honesty and an earnestness in the husky south Carlow voice that grabs you and makes you listen.
Hickey’s impact on Carnew has been well documented. Last Sunday they fell short in the Darcy Sand Intermediate Football Championship final by three points to Tinahely, holding Alan Costello’s free-scoring men to a paltry 1-6.
How does he pick up his squad from that defeat?
‘Last week was last week and it was what it was. That was a football week. Throughout the last 14 or 15 weeks we’ve had to do that. Sunday was our 15th game in 13 weeks. It’s been a split week on, week off with football and hurling. The chairman of the club wanted to give it 50-50 and we did that. Sunday evening, once the bell struck 12 on Sunday night, we had to deal with the defeat.
‘We were under no illusion as to what we were facing on Sunday. If someone had told you on Sunday morning that you were going to keep Tinahely to 1-6 after the scores they were putting up, you’d have said you’d be in with a right chance. We missed too many chances. We would have been more disappointed with our performance especially in the last 15 minutes when scores were there to be taken.
‘But, listen, to get there without the likes of Brendan McCrea, Adrain Myers, Cillian Gilligan, in fairness, it was a great achievement to get there. But it was what it was, and people might look back and wallow in self-pity, we kind of come from a different thinking background now. It’s gone. History will state that Tinahely are the champions. We have to move on. We have a big match on Sunday and that’s our be all and end all,’ he said.
Hickey has heard snippets of the history and rivalry between Carnew and Glenealy but he’s not giving it oxegen. It’s a different era now and there’s a changed mindset on the Wexford border according to the Mount Leinster Rangers man.
‘I’ve heard snippets of it (the rivalry). We’re at a place now where I think we have moved past...I know there was rivalry there between Glenealy and Carnew, look, you can have rivalry with anyone you want, but we’re taking the Limerick approach on that one. This is a young team. They need to forget about the past.
‘There are lads in Carnew with county medals who did the jersey proud but they‘re gone now and it’s up to this new brigade to make their own legacy,’ he said.
James Hickey fits with Carnew and Carnew with him. What was or is it about the proud Carnew club and the former dual player for Carlow that has created a very tight bond.
‘You can go into clubs and meet arrogance and ignorance and you can actually meet people that are holding a club back,’ said Hickey. ‘I went into Carnew and the first time I met Tim Balfe, and there were eight or nine others there, I seen people who loved the club, loved what it’s about, they want the best for the players, they want the players to have success because they felt the players need success because they are giving everything to the club.
‘I went in then and met a group of players...I thought when I played with Mount Leinster Rangers and Carlow hurling and football, and I thought that what we had in Rangers, I thought I’d never meet another group of men like that, or that I’d share a dressing room with a group of men like that again.
‘I’m in Carnew now and the boys are giving me everything that we gave in Mount Leinster Rangers.
‘I can’t describe how good this bunch of players are. We just click I suppose,’ he said.
Sunday sees another huge day in the Carnew season; the SHC final. The Mount Leinster Rangers legend says that he has the utmost repsect for Garry Laffan and for Glenealy and what they have achieved.
‘We just can’t wait for Sunday,’ said Hickey. ‘We’re really looking forward to this. It’s the county final. Garry Laffan has done a marvelous job with Glenealy. I was in Nowlan Park last year for their Leinster final.
‘To be fair to them, they probably should have won it. I’m under no illusions as to what we’re facing into. they have a very united squad, togetherness.
‘They have great leaders in Leighton (Glynn), Bosco (Jonathan O’Neill), Warren Kavanagh. I went to a few Wicklow matches as well. They have good players, they carry themselves well, they’re a good club, a proud club, and it should make for a fascinating final. Garry has done a great job.
‘He has transformed them from where they were when Bray won the three-in-a-row. They took the title off them last year. All you can do is admire a manager like that.
‘It’s kind of like the Kilkenny thing. When they were dominating, you’d read about the other 31 counties hoping they’d lose because they were sick of them winning. Instead of disliking them and not wanting them to win it’s better to like them study their ways and what makes them great and I think you’ll garner a lot more than way than the other way. The other way can drive everybody wrong.
‘We seen that ourselves back home when they (Kilkenny) invited us in (to play in the lower leagues) and a lot of the clubs in Carlow wouldn’t go in, wouldn’t lower themselves to play in a Junior league in Kilkenny but we went in.
‘And after every match there’d be tea and sandwiches and they treated us with respect and then we started winning those leagues and, ultimately, it helped us to win our first championship in 2006. We studied their ways and we learned from them and we respected what they achieved.
‘I think as a county, there’s huge respect in Wicklow, there would be huge respect between Glenealy and Carnew.
‘But I think that if clubs respected each other a bit more, respect is a lot better at the end of the day than dislike. You’ll learn a lot more with respect. That would push on into the inter-county set up as well.
‘Down in Carnew I’ve always been told that there would be massive respect between Carnew and Glenealy. Do Carnew respect what Glenealy did last year? Absolutely.
‘And Glenealy will be going for another title on Sunday and it’s our job to stop them and that’s what makes this a fascinating battle and we’ll have a right crack at this and see where it takes us,’ he added.