Tribe to end Treaty fairytale
Johnny Coen says Galway have the inner determination to deal with whatever Limerick throw at them
ON THE morning after Galway had squeezed their way past Clare in Semple Stadium, Johnny Coen ambled down to the majestic lake that sits in the heart of his native Loughrea. As a few anglers were preparing for a day’s searching for trout and pike, the energetic midfielder slowly sank into the cool freshwater, soothing his aching muscles and clearing his head of the pints from the night before.
It has been part of Coen’s routine since he first broke onto the intercounty scene. No matter what had happened the day before or how much ground he covered (his average GPS reading is 11 kilometres), the best remedy to his 40 Championship battles in maroon has been a dip in the lake. It tidies the clutter in his mind. He has generally done it on his own although occasionally this summer, he had company in club-mate Joe Mooney, who’s now part of the extended panel.
‘The idea is that the freshwater is good for recovery,’ Coen explains. ‘I’d go in regularly enough and during the summer, your body gets used to how cold it is. I would go in by myself a lot. I find that you are as well to come down on your own because you can kinda collect your own thoughts rather than having everyone bombarding you with their own opinion. You can reflect on it yourself first and formulate your own thoughts.’
Coen is proud of where he is from and they are proud of him in Loughrea. On a busy Wednesday afternoon on the main street, an overhanging image of Coen and David Burke, his midfield partner and teaching colleague at St Brigid’s Vocational School in the town, commands the attention.
Coen went to school in Brigid’s. His father, Tommy, was a teacher there before him and had his son for Junior Cert Technical Drawing. Tommy Coen was a goalkeeper with enough talent to force himself onto the Galway team by the 1983 All-Ireland semi-final against Cork when he was beaten by a stroke of Jimmy Barry-Murphy’s genius.
Unfortunately, a freak eye injury, picked up when training a college camogie side in Limerick, cut his career short and denied him the Celtic Crosses that would have come later in the 1980s.
‘He won an Under-21 title and played a few games with the seniors but he was unfortunate to suffer that eye injury, that ruled him out,’ Coen explains. ‘Having spoken to a lot of the lads from the ‘87 and ‘88 teams, they would have highly regarded him as a very, very good goalkeeper. And in fairness, they’ve all kept in touch.’
When Coen brought the Liam MacCarthy Cup back to Loughrea two days after last September’s emotional success, he was conscious that he was bringing home the silverware for players like his father, and others, who had missed out on glory with Galway.
‘Bringing the cup to Loughrea was a highlight for me. There has been a lot of players from the club in recent times. Greg Kennedy, Gavin Keary, Damien McClearn, Brian Mahony. They all threw their hand at playing for Galway, would have given it 100 per cent. They are really genuine lads and to come home with the Liam MacCarthy as a Loughrea man to the people of Loughrea meant so much.’
And it meant something to the town knowing that one of their own had played such a vital part in ending the All-Ireland famine.
The partnership Coen has forged with Burke in midfield was so integral to Galway finally scaling the summit that the decision to move him from defence to centrefield has been one of Micheál Donoghue’s masterstrokes.
Coen has made the bulk of his 40 Championship appearances for Galway in defence. It was as a sticky man-marking corner-back that he was named Young Hurler of the Year in 2012. But Donoghue knew that his relationship with Burke, off the field, could prove fruitful on it.
Following the team’s disappointing display in the 2016 Leinster final defeat to Kilkenny, and with the management team getting pelters around the county, Donoghue explained to Coen that he had a new role for him. Alongside his friend and teaching colleague in centrefield.
‘I always say to myself that this is phase two of my career,’ Coen says with a smile.
‘I was corner-back from my debut in 2011 right up to the 2016 Leinster final. I was delighted with the move because at times, when you are playing in the corner, it can be quite negative. There’s a lot more freedom around the middle of the field and you can express yourself a helluva lot more.
‘We’d just lost another Leinster final to Kilkenny. If you keep doing the same thing all the time, you will keep getting the same results. Micheál threw caution to the wind a small bit and gave me a lifeline. I was happy enough to grab it. He just said that I had a lot to offer in midfield – good speed and good athleticism.
It was nothing new for me per se, because I was playing around the middle for Loughrea. My first game there was against Clare down in Thurles. It went well for me that day and I was delighted to keep kicking on.’
An All-Ireland minor winner in 2009, Coen is 27 now and regarded as one of the leaders of the Galway team, recognised by Donoghue making him captain for this year’s National League campaign while Burke recovered from injury.
‘I have been here since 2011 and have been through good times and bad times, I suppose. David was still the actual captain, he was just injured but to stand in his place was a nice achievement.’
And it was during extra-time in the classic drawn encounter with Clare in Croke Park that Coen’s leadership qualities really came to the fore. With their reliable leaders like Burke, Joe Canning and Gearoid McInerney all off the field, he took the fight to the Banner from midfield. And he did it, having spurned the chance to win the game at the end of normal time.
‘Just in your own head, you would be saying just tip it over the bar,’ Coen says, recalling the opportunity to win the game just before extratime. ‘There was no one around me at all or anything like that. I don’t know was it me being a bit complacent but I suppose I was lucky enough to get a second bite at the cherry at the end [of extra-time].
‘I just said to myself I was a lot better than that and the team is a lot better than that, to be living chances like that out on the field.’
At times, playing at corner-back, it can be quite negative
Coen nailed the more difficult chance to level the game deep in extra-time, perhaps knowing that he had to redeem himself.
‘Not really. You are living for the moment. Whatever kind of ball you get, if you think about it too much, it is not on instinct,’ Coen said, although he did admit when Burke left the fray in the drawn semi-final that he felt the need to step up.
‘Micheál and the management team puts huge emphasis on leadership, right across the board, that there would be a leader in every single line so that you can dominate the game. Davy Burke would be a good friend of mine and captain of the team as well and when he went off, I was around the middle of the field and I would have made a pledge that I needed to be leader of this line now.’
And even with Burke and Canning off the field against Clare, Galway stuck to the process. ‘Be it in the 88th minute or whatever the case may be of extra-time, it is just a matter of thinking to yourself what is the right thing to do. If it is calling for a puck-out or calling for a handpass or firing it over the bar, you do the right thing all the time.
‘That’s the belief and the steely determination that has been instilled in us.’
In the middle of the field, where Coen and Burke have developed a telepathic understanding, Galway tend to do the right thing all the time.
It is what may drive them towards glory and immortality this afternoon.
40 Johnny Coen has made 40 Championship appearances, with the majority in defence