ALAN O’Shea is convinced the only way is up for St James’ footballers as they plot their way back out of the junior football ranks.
The Saints competed at the premier junior grade – the fifth tier of the county championships – in the past two seasons, but relegation last year has sent St James back into the Carbery Junior A Football Championship.
It’s a long road back to the premier junior grade, but the aim is to mount a challenge in a competition St James won in both 2019 and 2022.
Alan O’Shea is the man with the Midas touch in this regard – as player/manager, he guided St James’ footballers to Carbery glory in those previous triumphs, and he’s back in the hot-seat this season.
‘My wife (Therese O’Shea) became chairperson of the club so I had no other choice!’ O’Shea laughs, before explaining how he returned to St James after a season with Argideen Rangers.
‘I was with Timoleague for a year, and enjoyed it – they’re a great bunch of lads. Ardfield got relegated from premier junior down to junior, and I didn’t want to be playing against Ardfield in the junior championship.
‘When Stephen Murray stepped away as Ardfield manager, a few players asked me if I’d come back, and that’s it really.’
Even though he managed Argideen Rangers last season, O’Shea did line out in attack for St James in their premier junior relegation loss to St Nick’s that sent the Carbery club hurtling through the trapdoor to junior A. In his previous spell as St James manager, he combined coaching and playing – but not this time, unless it’s absolutely necessary.
‘I’d never hang up the boots, but it’s about finding the time – it's hard to train a team and also play. I did it before, but I was younger and fitter then,’ he says.
‘I play a bit now with the second team. We won the Carbery Division 3B league this season – a lot of the older lads play, like Kevin O’Brien and Micheál McCarthy.’
It’s time to give youth its fling with the junior A team, and the return of Aaron Hayes after two years in Barcelona is a big boost.
‘Aaron is back in now – he’s a serious player to have, and it gives the club a lift,’ O’Shea says.
‘We have a few young fellas, like Sean Whelton who was with the Cork minors, Liam Dooley, and a few more. We want to blend the young players with the more experienced lads.
‘The profile of the team is a lot younger than it was, maybe 60-40 in favour of the young lads. That’s good news for the club long-term – next year we have another six or seven fellas coming through.’
O’Shea is in optimistic form ahead of St James’ opening game this Saturday evening against Kilbrittain in Timoleague (7.30pm). With games against 2023 champions Barryroe and Castlehaven to follow, he also knows the Saints need to hit the ground running, and their form in Division 7 of the county league – they finished joint third – was encouraging.
‘The league went well – it’s very competitive and you’re up against the best junior teams from other divisions, like Inniscarra who won the county last year,’ says O’Shea. A quick look at the Division 7 table shows St James were the second-top scorers, averaging 0-18 per game without Aaron Hayes and Sean Whelton involved. The new Gaelic football rules have transformed the game, O’Shea insists.
‘I can only imagine what’s going to happen in the county championships – you’ll find some fella who will score five or six goals in one game because it has opened up so much. It’s a lot better – the skill level is back, the high fielding, the kick passing,’ he says, with the St James boss also adding that the excitement of the new rules lifted his players after last season’s relegation.
‘It was a hard season for the lads, but we’ll move on – we have a young team so it’s exciting to see what they can do,’ he says.
‘Our lads live and breathe football – they were down after last year, but after a poor season the only way is up,’ adds the Kerry native who hopes it will be a good weekend for teams in green and gold, first for St James on Saturday and then his home county on Sunday.
