‘We’re underdogs, but we’ve a fighting chance’ – Gannon
OUTWARDLY, Éire Óg might take the form of “massive underdogs”, as Seán Gannon admits they probably are for Sunday’s Leinster club SFC final against Ballyboden St Enda’s.
But when he looks to the line in Portlaoise, staring back at him will be a management team comprised of men who won five Leinster titles each with the club in the nineties.
In as much as following Éire Óg around the province forms a vivid memory of Gannon’s youth, so too is watching them win.
“I remember being on the buses going to all the games – my mother brought me,” Gannon recalls.
“It was a big thing then that everyone in Carlow went out supporting Éire Óg in the nineties. It was just something that was done.
“Because of that, there is a massive grá for it in Éire Óg. You just want to win the Leinster Championship.”
Psychology
It surely helps with the psychology of this week that on three of those occasions in the nineties, the club defeated Dublin teams in Leinster finals.
In 1993, Éire Óg retained the provincial crown by beating the Erin’s Isle of Charlie Redmond, Mick Deegan and Keith Barr.
In the ’96 decider, they had five points to spare over St Sylvester’s while in ’98, they beat Kilmacud Crokes after two replays.
“There is a lot of people who were involved then that are still involved now that would remind you that they’ve won five,” Gannon smiles.
“So I suppose that’s always there. It would be nice to emulate them – and maybe go one further.”
So Éire Óg don’t have to look across county borders for inspiration. If they were inclined to, however, they might note how the last two teams to represent Dublin in Leinster lost to clubs from Wicklow (Rathnew) and Longford (Mullinalaghta).
As Gannon observes: “The club championship is a lot more even than the inter-county championship. It gives everyone a chance to beat everyone.
“When it comes to county, it is a bit different; resources and all the rest. But when it comes to club, it’s one parish against another.
“You’d have to say the success of Mullinalaghta and Mount Leinster Rangers from Carlow, a lot of clubs have done it.”
In each of the past two years, Éire Óg have been beaten by Mullinalaghta, the GAA’s 2018 half-parish fairytale.
In last year’s Leinster semi-final Éire Óg lost to the Longford champions by 18 points (2-15 to 0-3) and finished with 12 men.
So when Gannon says “Mullinalaghta would be in our heads all right,” he means it on a couple of different levels.
“What Mullinalaghata did… they’d be similar to St Mullins really. Éire Óg is a town club and we’d have a bigger population than they would.
“But what they did was outrageous,” he asserts.
“The club championship is a lot more even than the inter-county championship. It gives everyone a chance to beat everyone.”
There are other reasons for optimism.
During the long, barren summer months for club football, Ballyboden played a host of challenge matches with teams in different counties.
They won all but one of them, a draw with Éire Óg in Netwatch Cullen Park.
“We’re more familiar with each other than you’d expect,” Gannon notes. “And we’re confident people. It probably comes from the history of the club and the success in the nineties.
“We know they’re going to be hugely improved from that day,” he adds. “But sobeit.
“OK, we’re massive underdogs. But we’ve a fighting chance.”