CLONAKILTY’S Aidan McCarthy is a man who has been through the hoops as a manager but is helping Clann na nGael to realise their full potential.
Over the past two years, McCarthy has been attempting to set the highest of standards with his Clann na nGael side. If last season is anything to go by, he is definitely on the right path, leading the team to a county semi-final and a West Cork final.
Ultimate honours eluded the Scorchers but they have now registered two wins in their confined county junior B football championship group and are almost guaranteed qualification to the play-offs.
Last weekend’s win over Muintir Bháire was a mixed bag. A poor first half followed by a dominant second. McCarthy is only too aware how difficult it is to qualify from these groups and is still wary about this season’s chances.
‘This is my second year with the team,’ the Clann na nGael co-manager said.
‘We had a great season last year. A county semi-final in the confined (county) and a West Cork final in Carbery. Ballyphehane beat us in the county and Goleen in the West Cork final.
‘The potential is there but we have to play a lot better than we did today in the first half. We have Ballinacurra left in our group and they’re a good side.
‘We beat Brian Dillon’s in our first game so we have two wins under our belt now. We are not out of the group yet. It’s very competitive.’
Player-wise, Clann have suffered from the loss of players on a regular basis every season. They found it hard to field the same fifteen two years in a row but seem to have reversed the trend. There are also some promising young players coming through the system.
‘We haven’t really lost any players this season, a full panel to pick from and we’re building some nice momentum,’ said an optimistic McCarthy.
‘We won the junior C two years ago and a lot of lads have since come back to play. It’s just day by day at present, training three days a week.
‘We’re in league three, lost a couple of games but our focus is on this county championship right now. We have no problems in getting teams together for games, although our numbers are down slightly from last season.
‘Our underage is quite good thanks to an amalgamation with Caheragh at U16 and minor. So, there’s a lot of good work going on there.
‘Young Dan McCarthy is doing the Leaving Cert so he didn’t play today. We have other young lads who will fill spots for us. Things are going well at the moment. I wasn’t too happy with the first half today but happy with the way we recovered and got over the line.
‘The lads listened to us at half time and went out and did the job. There’s a long season there yet and we’ll see how it goes.’
