Celia grills her grandsons in the art of good football

It never takes too long for Celia Considine to discover that she has been left on her own. A trend has developed. Such is her fervour for Kilmurry-Ibrickane, Celia tends to lose the run of her herself once the ball is thrown in.

If she didn’t have three grandsons wearing the green and red of the Clare and Munster champions, Celia, who lives in Clohaninchy, Seafield, would still be heard above the din, driving on Kilmurry.
The fact that Shane and Darren Hickey, along with Mark McCarthy, are her grandsons, makes it a bit more personal for their grandmother.
“I’m passionate about football and it rubbed off on the children. Even my girls, they married footballers,” Celia told The Clare Champion on Monday evening as the rain and wind whipped up in Clohaninchy.
One of her daughters, Denise, married Brian Shanahan, a Doonbeg man. Celia insists that she didn’t have insurmountable issues with the cross-border union but she did reveal that two of her sons, Paul and Michael, had an occasional on-field run in with their brother-in-law.
“I was okay about it but sure, they used to fight on the field – Paul, himself and Michael. But they forgot all about it then when the match was over,” Celia laughed.
The laughter ceased though when she faced up to the possibility that her newest grandson, Rory, would be a Doonbeg man.
“They have an addition to the family, Rory, their first boy after two girls. When Rory was born, Brian rang me and he said ‘hello Celia, you’ll be shouting for Doonbeg!’” she recalled.
A football fanatic all her life, Celia goes to matches with Gillian, another daughter, who is married to Kilmurry panellist Vinny Talty. It often transpires, though, that Gillian moves a few yards away, such is the racket her mother creates.
“I’m worse than them. I’m terrible. I don’t think any of them want to stand beside me. They say ‘Mam, watch your blood pressure’. They’d be moving from me. I just can’t help it,” Celia maintained.
So what exactly does Celia say, or more likely shout, that causes her to be left alone?
“I’d just say ‘come on, Darren, come on Shane, come on Mark’. I’d just say ‘get in front of your man or do what you have to do’. I’d be encouraging them to do their best,” is her explanation.
Celia often has a word in her grandsons’ ears, although she’s not sure if they listen to her.
“I would. I’d tell them what to do. They don’t always listen to me but I tell them. I tell them their faults as well as their good points.
“I’m worse during the game, especially if we’re losing. I wouldn’t be cutting them down or anything. I’d be saying ‘come on Darren or Shane or Mark, wake up’.  I’m their best critic and their best supporter,” she said.
Support and advice aside, Celia won’t let her grandsons go hungry either. That’s why Shane, Darren and Niall Hickey, who is on the Clare minor panel, call to her house before heading for their match that day.
“I give them a grill. Not a fry. Shane isn’t a great eater but Darren eats well, as does Niall. But Shane is finicky and he picks. The other lads are well able to eat,” she reveals.
Her other footballing grandson, Mark McCarthy, is fed at home.
“He wouldn’t call for the breakfast. His father, Butcher (McCarthy) looks after him. He’d have plenty of meat,” Celia noted.
Most of the Hickeys, Considines or McCarthys don’t appear to be shy when they pull into the table.
“They’re eating scones since morning. They’re here all day eating. I can’t keep the grandsons fed. God bless them. It’s a full time job trying to feed them,” Celia said.
Celia doesn’t just feed her grandsons. She prays for them as well.
“I go to church on the Sunday and light candles for them. I always do it on the morning of a big match. Pray for them. It seems to have worked for a while. I hope t’will work next Sunday.”
Back on the football side of things, Celia remembers supporting Kilmurry Ibrickane at the 1966 county final, while her all-time favourite Kilmurry footballer is Martin McInerney, who played in the 1960s.
“He was a neighbour of mine, who played for Munster. He was an outstanding footballer. He had style,” Celia said of her next-door neighbour in Quilty, who now lives in Dublin.
Methods of playing football have moved on since the 1960s, although Celia would prefer if Kilmurry played a more direct game.
“It has changed because at that time it was nearly all catch and kick. There wasn’t any of the short hand passing.
“And I know they need the short hand passing but I’m a firm believer myself in catch and kick. Getting it into the forwards quickly,” she said.
“I don’t like telling the management their business but I think they’re doing too much short passing.
I think our forwards have a bit of a problem this year. They’re not performing up to standard but hopefully they will for Portlaoise. They might surprise us,” Celia added hopefully.
She feels that Kilmurry, and now Clare manager, Micheál McDermott has earned the respect of the parish during his stint at the helm.
“He has discipline and I think being an outsider, they’ve good respect for him. He has a good job made of them with Gerard McCarthy and Martin Cahill.
“The management are good because it’s not easy to control a large bunch of young fellas like that,” she acknowledged.
Celia was in Dublin recently when Darren Hickey was presented with his Munster club player of the year award. It was a proud moment for the Hickeys and for Darren’s grandmother, after all the grills and scones she has made for him.
“It was mighty. Especially when he didn’t make the team in 2008.  He was struggling. He got great encouragement to try and get on the team from his father and from me. Because we knew he could do it,” she said.
Even a fear of flying couldn’t dissuade Celia from travelling to London for Kilmurry’s All-Ireland quarter-final against Tír Chonaill Gaels.
“I’m really terrified of flying and  it was an ordeal for me to go. But I’d have died if I stayed at home.
“So it was the same thing to go. I went on Butcher’s (McCarthy) fun bus. We met everybody. We hadn’t time to talk to them all,” she remembered.
Niall Hickey has joined the extended Kilmurry panel this year and Celia is hopeful that he will make the team in the years ahead. She recalls the perfect timing of Niall’s birth in 1993.
He was born the day after Kilmurry defeated Doonbeg in the 1993 county final when his father Paul, picked up the man of the match award.
“His mother, Anne, waited until the match was over and she went in that night. He was born on the Monday after the match. She held on for the county final. It was some achievement,” Celia said proudly.
She is very hopeful that Kilmurry and her grandsons will be on parade in Croke Park on March 17.
“Wouldn’t it be mighty? Wouldn’t it be great to look forward to St Patrick’s Day? It would be a dream. And I’d say if we got to the All-Ireland we could win it. I was speaking to Shane, Darren and Mark today and they’re very positive,” their grandmother said.
Celia will be grilling and praying for them again on Sunday before they head for Quilty village for the bus to Limerick. Come 2.30pm in the Gaelic Grounds she will again clear her throat in support of her boys and her club.