Jason O’Connor
Beaufort’s manager had some big shoes to fill but in bringing the club to Croke Park he’s done just that
THE task looked onerous to begin with for Eanna O’Malley. To take over from a manager in Gary McGrath who had brought the club to back-to-back Mid Kerry titles, the first time in two decades they had won their local Championship, and back to Division 1 of the County Senior Football League for the first time since the mid-1990s. Being his assistant did much though to prepare O’Malley for a role that has sees him at helm of a trip to GAA Headquarters this Saturday.
“A lot of people asked me if there was pressure in taking over from Gary, but to be honest I never really looked at it that way. Tim [Coffey] got us out of Division 4 [2014] and then Gary took it on a step further.
“I learned a lot and I knew that there was no need to make any great changes, just keep it going in the right direction. Gary is there in the background and I often talk to him about things, he’s a huge help still,” O’Malley said about his predecessor in the role.
That Mid Kerry success in 2016 saw them defeat previous (Milltown / Castlemaine) and future (Glenbeigh / Glencar) All-Ireland Club Champions as belief began to grow about a journey for themselves beyond the county.
Na Gaeil stopped it before it ever started on the Easter Bank Holiday Monday in 2017, but as fate would have it, the sides met again in the 2018 decider in a match that won’t be forgotten anytime soon by those present in Austin Stack Park that May Bank Holiday Sunday.
This time, after 80 action packed minutes and more, Beaufort squeezed through.
“A lot of people will say that any game you win is a good game, but you did take great satisfaction out of winning a great game such as the final against Na Gaeil. We looked dead and buried once or twice but the lads showed unbelievable character that day,” the Beaufort boss said.
A long wait until Munster meant a proper plan had to be put in place to cope with the wait, something O’Malley
said the management