Defeatin 2012final taughtus somuch –Schutte
CUALA stand now as reigning All-Ireland club champions, threein-a-row Dublin winners and on the brink of back-to-back Leinster titles.
On Sunday they’ll face Offaly’s Kilcormac Killoughey for the provincial title and the right to bounce into the All-Ireland series.
They are used to big days like this now, but it wasn’t always the way for the south County Dublin side.
If there was a moment where it all changed for them, star defender Paul Schutte reckons it was the Dublin final of 2012.
Cuala had just lost to neighbours Kilmacud Crokes but from that defeat grew the idea that great things lay ahead for the club.
“I remember after the Crokes game in 2012, when we lost the first county final. I remember sitting in the dressing-room straight after the game and we were all pretty upset,” Schutte recalls.
“But we said that the goal for this team was to go and win a Leinster title. And to be fair to Oisín Gough, he’s a great visionary. And he was saying to us: ‘why sell ourselves short? Go for the All-Ireland’.
“So from 2012, we just viewed it as a journey. And we’ve tried to improve 1 per cent every day. If it’s been good enough, great. If it hasn’t, fair enough.
“But the 2012 county final loss when he said, ‘OK, it’s time to pull up our socks and try and achieve something in the small window we have.’”
They were helped on their journey by the emergence of some new talent, not least Con O’Callaghan, while the experience they garnered from games like that 2012 final defeat would stand them in good stead.
The addition of Mattie Kenny as manager was also a key part of the jigsaw.
“In 2012, I’d say, Cian (O’Callaghan) and Colm (Cronin) played their very first senior games when they were still minors.
“They barely trained with us. Myself and Oisín and David (Treacy) would have probably been the oldest on the team at 20 or 21. So we’ve got a nice bit of experience going now, matched with the young (players).
“Mattie (Kenny) was a massive addition to us. He did a lot for the club. He brought the standards up, brought a bit of steel, but he also brought... it’s a massive club that is forever growing and it’s hard to keep that small-club feel going.
“So he brought his experience from his small club in Galway into Cuala. He had us down in Dalkey selling tickets regardless of whether you were training for Dublin the night before or on the intermediate team. He blended that in as one but it stood to us massively.”
Since getting over the line in Dublin in 2015, they have hardly taken a backward step. Aside from the Leinster final defeat to Oulart-The Ballagh that year, they have known nothing but winning.
Along the way they have reigned supreme on their home patch. In Leinster Cuala have disposed of the Kilkenny champions three seasons in a row, and reached their Holy Grail on St Patrick’s Day earlier this year.
JUDGING
It’s been a long road but judging by their form in Leinster this time around, they are showing no sign of slowing down.
For Schutte, that is down to some smart management from Kenny who recognised the need to give his charges some time off during the summer if they were to go again.
“After Paddy’s Day, I think we played a league game, maybe a week later. And we just had to churn it out, where your head isn’t fully in it. You’re more fulfilling fixtures at that stage.
“Then in the summer time, Mattie gave us a full summer off which, in theory, could have been seen as a risk. But he gave us a full summer off.
“It was just to mentally recharge the batteries. But it stood to us. People came back hungry. After not hurling for two or three months, the competitive side stays in you.
“Some lad beats you to the first ball and then you’re like, ‘OK, I don’t like that.’ So you win the next one and then you keep trying to improve every time.
“It was just very smart on Mattie’s behalf to give us the summer off.
“It was high-risk (to take the summer off ). Like a lot of the lads would have kept going to the gym. It is a risk but you’d like to peak around October. Just to be on an upward curve. It was a risk but it paid off.”
They put their title on the line against the 2012 Leinster champions Kilcormac Killoughey on Sunday.
Schutte’s brother Mark, who picked up an All-Ireland medal with Jim Gavin’s footballers this year, is in a race to be fit for the game.
Paul Schutte believes they will need all hands on deck to defeat the Offaly side who have a track record in downing big sides.
“I was looking over their history in the last five campaigns in Leinster.
“They pushed Ballyhale hard in their pomp and beat Thurles Sarsfields so they have a few big scalps.
“I think they have conceded maybe four goals in their last 10 games so they won’t concede much. We’ll have to work on ways of penetrating their defence.”