‘We know what to expect’
TO be in with a chance at the big prize on the final day was all Coolera/Strandhill wanted at the start of the championship according to Barry Doyle. A debutant as a 16-year-old with the intermediate side in 1995, the evergreen midfielder has been an integral part of Coolera’s ride to Sunday’s final.
Doyle has seen the good and bad days with his club. But says there’s a winning mentality in Ransboro that is responsible for their journey to Markievicz Park in 2019. “The one thing with Coolera is you always get a good team spirit”, he says. “Those teams who won trophies were always hard to beat and full of players who didn’t like losing. I think that’s always been in there in the club, which is a good thing.”
Doyle was part of the teams who lost out in senior deciders in 2000, 2002 and 2011. There are moments of anguish, but he’s someone who for this week at least, is solely focused on the task at hand. “Looking back, yes I think we had regrets”, he concedes. “But we have an opportunity on Sunday. You can’t do anything about what has happened in the past. All you can focus on is the future. Today we have players like Niall Murphy and Barry O’Mahony, where you give them an inch and they’ll put the ball over. We probably didn’t have that a few years ago. This year, we have those players and quality of forwards.”
Coolera are a team who mix youth and experience very well. The club will look to the older players to guide the younger ones on Sunday afternoon and Doyle says they are fortunate in that regard.
“It’s great to have these young lads coming through because they’re talented and they will be part of the club for the next fifteen or twenty years. They’ve really added quality and drive.
“We’re lucky because we have a few senior lads who will advise the younger boys on what to expect. You try and bring the younger lads down to earth and remind them that you don’t play the occasion. You play the game.
“It’s hard to do that sometimes because it’s a county final and you can get caught up, but it’s just another game at the end of the day.”
Barry knows how fortunate he is to be part of a panel preparing for a county final. Coolera were moments away from a relegation play-off against Drumcliffe/Rosses Point only for a last-minute Murphy strike which saved their bacon. “It’s symptomatic of the year we’ve had. It’s been up and down and we’ve always had issues like that through the years. Especially when you’ve lads involved in county games who can’t play and you’ve lads who go out foreign. But that moment when Niall scored sort of demonstrates how things have gone for us. It really is the finer points that it comes down to.”
Coolera’s mission at the start of the summer was to be at Markievicz Park come the third weekend in October. So far, so good and although Tourlestrane will provide the toughest test possible, Doyle says Coolera can only think about themselves.
“We know what to expect. They’re formidable. They’ve come through the group and knockout stages with ease. But we’re there now to meet them and that’s all we wanted. It doesn’t matter who we play. We have to get our own house in order.”