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Clare star now walking the line


NINE years ago, Kieran O’Mahony was not just centre-back on Doonbeg’s last championship winning team, he was also club chairman.

Manager, Kieran O'Mahony contemplating on a Doonbeg win. Photograph by Declan MonaghanAfter three one-point championship defeats, from ’07 to ’09, including two semi-finals, the 2010 Doonbeg team have finally made it to Cusack Park on county final afternoon. However, O’Mahony, who is in his first year as senior manager, feels he was handed a team that was already well prepared and knew what was required, even if they had fallen just short in recent years.
“An amount of work has been put in by various people, including Gerry Killeen, Padraig Conway, Tommy Tubridy and Ger Lawlor. Eddie Killeen has probably four years put down and Pat Blake has been with a lot of these lads since they were 17.
“Myself and Declan (Conway) are probably the new kids on the block. All those lads that were there before us have a huge amount of work put in,” the manager stated.
He feels that luck hasn’t been a friend to Doonbeg in recent seasons.
“It requires a few breaks at the right time. If you prepare properly every year, you’re always going to be there with a shout but even with all the preparation in the world, you need that break at the right time. I don’t think we’ve got that break in recent years, although all of the preparation has gone in.
“They’ve been wronged by the media as well as everything else. They’ve been blamed for blowing big games and maybe falling away. Sometimes the momentum can turn against you. Sometimes a break of a ball is the difference between becoming a great team and a bunch of losers,” O’Mahony added.
The former Munster championship-winning defender, with club and county, believes suggestions that this Doonbeg team couldn’t win tight championship games motivates them.
“It does drive them but I think after the Kilmurry game this year, an awful lot of those negative feelings have gone. They were just hungry to get to a final and I suppose we’ll find out on Sunday whether they are happy to get to a final or whether they are hungry to win it,” he reflected.
As for Liscannor, O’Mahony has real respect for their manager, whom he feels will have them driven to the limit.
“With Martin Guerin in charge you could say they have one of their own. He’s been a stalwart with Liscannor for as far back as I can remember.
“I played with and against Martin. He’s a gentleman but a really, really passionate Liscannor man. If anybody is going to get the best out of them, it is going to be one of their own,” he said.
As for his own players, O’Mahony both believes in and admires them. He thinks they are ready and is certain that they have earned this shot at winning an 18th title for the Magpies in what will be their 27th county final since 1955.
“It would be mean an awful lot to this bunch of players because they have a savage amount of work put in over the last five or six years. If they could win one, it might propel them to win another one in the next five or six years. It would also bridge a gap. If you go too long without winning, sometimes it becomes harder.
“They’re as eager as you could meet. They’re fiercely committed and I think they’re probably as talented as any Doonbeg team that ever went out. It would mean the world to them,” the Doonbeg bainisteoir stated.

 

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