Newly-promoted Corofin aim to keep momentum going

THERE has been a soccer team in Corofin for as long as Gerry Halpin can remember. While the club has struggled on occasions, they have survived despite the fact that they draw their players from a relatively small area.
“Currently, there are teams all around us in Ennistymon, Coole [Gort], Ruan and Burren, while Ennis is close by and there are a number of clubs there,” commented Halpin when talking about the challenges his club faces each year.
“We have a very small pick and there are big demands on the players, as they are also involved in the GAA club, where they play hurling and football. The players buy into it and the commitment they give is great. It’s hard to manage and it’s difficult for the players who, at times, are being pulled in all directions,” Halpin told The Clare Champion.
Unlike his opposite number in Saturday’s final, Mike O’Malley, Halpin goes into the game having previously managed a cup-winning side. He was in charge of Corofin’s two cup-winning teams from almost a decade ago. Indeed, he must go down as one of the most successful managers in the league. Since his return to take charge of Corofin this season, he has steered them back into the Premier League, where they will play next season.
Twenty years ago, Halpin started coaching at underage level in the club and he steered this team through the various schoolboy levels to contest the Youths Cup final in 2002. Not surprisingly, he was handed the job of managing the club’s junior side and cup success followed in 2005 and 2006. They were underdogs in their first cup final, when they faced North Clare neighbours Moher Celtic, whom they beat after a replay.
Halpin remembers that game well. “It was on May 28 and there was a big crowd and a great atmosphere at the game. Moher were favourites and were going well at the time but we came out on top. A year later, we met Avenue B, who had caused a huge upset when knocking out their A team from the competition.”
A number of the players who were part of those teams are still key members of the squad. They include Brian Halpin, Jason Tierney, Damian Ryan, John Keane and David O’Loughlin. O’Loughlin has been concentrating on tug o’ war in recent times, helping the Burren club to Munster honours just last week.
After a break of a couple of seasons, Halpin returned to management this season. “We found it difficult to get a team for the league cup but when the league came around, we had a squad. We have just got promotion to the Premier League for next season. There is great spirit in the camp. A very close bond exists between the players, most of whom backbone the hurling and football teams also,” according to Halpin, whose backroom team includes Martin Tierney, who was part of Halpin’s management team when cup honours were captured in 2005 and 2006, and Alan Bane.
Halpin is a little concerned that the team’s form dipped a little in the past two weeks “but the players have had a lot of commitments in that period”.
He agreed, “Newmarket are the favourites. They have done their stuff over the years and they have great experience with players like Mark Conlon, Michael Crosby and Eoin Hayes. They are the holders and they were very impressive in the semi-final. They are very calm on the ball and if they go behind, they have shown that they can get back. We will have to be good to beat them but finals are finals and it could go either way. We have a good record in finals.
“Our big target was to win the league. We have got promotion. Interest is big at the moment and it’s a bonus to be in the cup final,” he added.
The Corofin boss agreed he will need a full squad to be in with a chance of winning the title. “There is a doubt about the availability of key player John Keane who is a member of the Clare senior football panel, which is due to play Galway in a senior football challenge at Miltown on Saturday evening.”
Keane’s brother, Brendan, is out of Saturday’s final due to a leg injury he suffered prior to the cup semi-final.
It’s a road Halpin has travelled in the past, that of underdog on cup final day, but he has managed to upset the odds and will be hoping to do so again on Saturday.