Amond out to put Pep in his step
FOR Padraig Amond ‘it’s been a mad week’ already, one that will become a complete frenzy should Newport County win a game of football today.
Between sourcing FA Cup tickets for family and friends, including ‘a crew from Tully’s Bar’ in Carlow, playing a League game on Tuesday night, and dealing amiably with the press, Amond has hardly drawn breath. And yet, he has loved every second of it.
As someone whose pro career passport bears the stamps of a journeyman footballer — Accrington, Morecambe, Grimsby, Hartlepool — Amond is aware it’s not every week you play Manchester City in the last 16 of the FA Cup.
It’s also not every week you’re told, ‘You know Podge, you’re a bit like Sergio Aguero. Same physique, same age, same type of movement’.
Amond got a smile out of that one.
Aguero cost City £36million and is paid £250k a week, before bonuses. Amond was signed on a free by Newport where the average weekly wage is less than £1,000. But today, for 90 minutes, the Manchester Goliaths will cross the white line in FA Cup combat against the Welsh Davids of Newport County.
And back in Carlow, they will be watching, and hoping.
The second smallest county in Ireland is on a sporting roll at the minute. The hurlers held Galway earlier this month; the footballers have started brightly, too. Sean O’Brien, ‘The Tullow Tank’, is back in demand on the flank for Ireland and then there is Willie Mullins.
While reared in Kilkenny, Mullins’ training operation is firmly imbedded in Carlow turf in Closutton, just beyond Leighlinbridge.
Amond has a connection to the yard through his grandmother, Eileen, who greets visitors to the Mullins yard with sharp eyes and sweet tea.
‘I’ve been to Willie’s place one or two times when I’m home, you couldn’t meet more welcoming people,’ said Amond.
When Amond scored the decisive second goal for Newport against Middlesbrough in the fourth-round replay, it didn’t go unnoticed in Carlow.
‘Patrick (Mullins) texted me and said he and Willie had been watching the game. It shows you how we stick up for each other,’ said Amond.
A couple of years back, Amond and a few of his Grimsby teammates went to the Cheltenham Festival for a day, where Mullins invited them all into the parade ring before one of the major races. It was a classy touch.
The family racing link extends to other high-profile yards as Amond’s cousins, Busty and Bubba, are key figures for Gordon Elliott and Jessica Harrington respectively.
‘I don’t know where the racing connections come from. I’ve never sat on a horse in my life,’ quipped Amond.
Newport are 33/1 outsiders to win today but from Bagenalstown to Borris, they will be rooting for their man because this is a big deal.
Such is the widening gulf between the haves and havenots of football the prospects of a Cinderella crew from the fourth tier surviving this far in the FA Cup are remote.
Two years ago, non-league Lincoln lit up the old competition by reaching the quarterfinals; this time, it is Newport who are the headline-grabbers.
Improbably, the 83rd club in the English League have taken the scalps of Leicester, the 2016 Premier League champions, and a craggy Boro side, sixth in the Championship, after a replay.
They also lost 1-0 at home to MK Dons on Tuesday night, a seventh defeat in 10 league games, if only their third at home on a heavy Rodney Parade pitch which has staged over 60 games between rugby and football. So which Newport will turn up today, the Cup kings or the League laggards?
‘If you put Newport into the Championship right now, would we do well? No,’ says Amond.
‘But if you took our best 15 players and placed them at different clubs in the Championship, then I’m convinced they would all succeed.’
An outstanding under-age hurler for Carlow, Amond is enjoying his finest season in a football career which began at Shamrock Rovers where he sustained a serious knee injury at 19. This season, at 30, Amond has hit top gear, chalking up 19 goals in 41 appearances.
‘My strength is my stamina. I can keep going at the same pace in the first minute as the last. I’m a better player now than I was when I was 22,’ he said.
‘This is the most consistent run of games I’ve had and when that happens, I back myself to score goals. I believe I can score at any level.’
Few teams score more goals than City and if they pick up where they left off against Chelsea last Sunday, this could be a difficult evening for Newport.
‘I watched City against Chelsea and when they got to four, I was saying “score five” then “score six”. The more they scored, the less the expectancy on us to do anything,’ said Amond.
‘If they can do that to a club like Chelsea, sure what chance have a small club like Newport? That suits us.’
Leading the line was Argentine ace, Aguero, who arrived in English football the same time as Amond in the summer of 2011, to slightly greater fanfare.
‘If Aguero plays it would be something else to be on the same pitch as him, even though I’m a United fan.’
If County somehow stun City, Amond would have to rival Mullins, O’Brien, Turlough O’Brien and Co for Carlow Sports Person of the Year.
Voting closes next Tuesday at 5pm. Timely.