Sunday’s showpiece football final reignites one of the county’s great rivalries between Kilmurry Ibrickane and Éire Óg in Cusack Park (2.30pm). There are obviously many connections between the parishes and several stories of past glories and battles but easily the most pertinent link is saved for Offaly native David Egan.
After all, having just relocated to Ennis in the past year with his partner Louise, an admittedly ‘staunch Éire Óg woman’ and their two sons, his decision to take charge of Kilmurry Ibrickane always carried the danger of the sides clashing at such a pivotal juncture and so it has come to pass for the St Brigid’s clubman.
“It has been a fair baptism to the county alright.” Admits Egan with a wry smile.
“To be honest, the Skelly’s are a great GAA family and my partner Louise is very supportive of everything I do so the two young lads will have red jerseys on them on Sunday but when I go out the door I’ll have my Kilmurry jacket on and I’ll be fully focused on them, it’s as simple as.
“The banter has been great though and I suppose that’s what the GAA is all about really. I’m actually surrounded by Éire Óg people, even the wing-back Ciaran Russell lives across from us so I’m meeting and greeting Éire Óg people on a daily basis and there’s good craic exchanged.
“But that’s only a sideshow really, at the end of the day, it’s a game of ball, it’s an hour of a battle and like any rivalry you’re enemies on the pitch but best friends off it.
“That goes for a lot of the Kilmurry lads who live in Ennis too and pal around with the Éire Óg lads so it’s interesting dynamic for a lot of us, not just me.”
There has also been a fascinating dynamic throughout the development of Kilmurry Ibrickane this year as with five Clare Under 20’s emerging through along with the proven winners such as Michael O’Dwyer (9) and Shane Hickey (8) still leading the way, it took time to assimilate into his new club, having come from St Michael’s in Cork.
“My previous club in Cork were intermediate when I took over and ended up at senior. I was training with them to keep my fitness up for playing with my own club in Offaly and they asked me to get involved so I said I would just to help out with the local community. We ended up winning minor and Under 21 and I was able to bring that group into the adult fold. The club had lost five or six intermediate finals but we got up to senior level and it was great and as you’d expect for a club that had not much previous success, they were extremely grateful and almost hanging on every word I said.
“You come up here then and you’re dealing with players that have eight or nine senior medals and there’s me with only two or intermediate medals from my playing days in Offaly so as you can imagine it was a bit daunting coming in but you soon realise that they’re essentially the same guys as yourself.
“I mean they’re so driven, brilliantly focused and driven, especially once we got out of the group. It was amazing, their focus for the knock-out stages was at a different level and I really felt that before the Miltown match.
“They didn’t just go one notch but three or four notches, just as the experienced heads around me had predicted. Initially I was a bit concerned at the group stages because I felt that we weren’t performing to the levels I expected. We were doing enough to get through games and I was almost pulling my hair out getting worried about it but the locals lads were telling me to relax as these players had been there before, were an experienced bunch and were so driven.
“To be honest, I may not have had the same level of success as them but I’m every bit as driven as them so we’re well married together in that respect anyway.”
His own vows will be tested this week though as his Kilmurry Ibrickane meet Éire Óg for the second time in the championship, having just been edged out in the opening round by 0-10 to 0-08 in Cooraclare back in early August.
“Straight up, I thought that game was pure shadow-boxing. It looked to me as if the two teams stood off and looked at each other and I was a little puzzled by that. We didn’t go as hard as I wanted them to go and I’ve no answers as to why and to be honest I thought they [Éire Óg] were the same.
“Maybe subconsciously both teams had it in their heads that a rematch like this could be coming down the line again so I think you’re going to see a totally different game in Cusack Park on Sunday.
So did you believe after that game that you would lock horns with Éire Óg again at some stage?
“I said to the lads before that first round that if we were to win a championship that we’d have to beat Éire Óg, that was my feeling on it. I think if you look at the championship as a whole, the best two teams are in the final. There are lots of good teams in Clare, don’t get me wrong, but I think the two best squads have got there on merit.
“I’ve been hearing all about the tradition between the clubs but past meetings or anything like that won’t count for much on Sunday. The last team I was with in Cork had lost six county finals before we made the breakthrough and I said to them that you can’t change the past or control it and the same goes for your future. You just have to live in the moment and whatever comes at you, you deal with it and meet it head on.
“Take these lads, there’s a fair winning culture in Kilmurry Ibrickane and Éire Óg are the same and both teams are looking back and probably looking for clues within that culture for Sunday to try and get one over on each other.
“Yes Éire Óg are favourites but in my eyes it’s a totally 50/50 game and I’m sure Paul Madden is saying the same thing to them. The players know each other inside-out, the teams are both primed for action so let’s just see what happens on Sunday.”
So is your house a county final free zone for the next week or so anyway?
“Well, my four month old just got christened last Saturday so my house was filled with Éire Óg people so there’s no getting away from it now and you just have to embrace it.
“You just couldn’t script it.” He concludes with a hearty laugh.
That goes for Sunday’s final too no doubt.