Garrycastle boss bids to bow out on a high

SUCCESSFUL Garrycastle manager Anthony Cunningham is steadily approaching the end of a fantastic tenure in charge at the club. After guiding Garrycastle to a fantastic three-in-a-row of county titles, the Galway native was recently announced as his home county's new senior hurling team manager, and will part company with Garrycastle when their current championship campaign draws to a close. Not that Cunningham is in any rush to call time on a glorious spell with the Athlone club. For, in order to be able to concentrate fully on the Galway hurling job, Garrycastle's present championship campaign has to draw to a close. Cunningham has no intention of that scenario arising after this Sunday's Leinster Club SFC final meeting against St Brigid's (Dublin) in Tullamore (throw-in: 2pm). "The Galway job is very important to me, but it doesn't come into things in relation to Garrycastle. Every game is different with Garrycastle, and every game requires the same level of concentration and focus, so there's no question of emotion or anything coming into it. There's very little room for sentiment in sport, and particularly when high-intensity provincial finals are at stake. All I'm working towards is giving my best for Garrycastle, and hopefully on getting another win for the club next Sunday," said Cunningham. "Myself and a lot of people at Garrycastle are used to big games. I wouldn't say I get nervous at this stage in my career. It probably happened a bit more in my earlier days, when I'd get a bit more excited! But now I know the importance of staying calm and focused on the sideline, and of being focused on helping the team when they need help. We have a very experienced and focused set of players here anyway, and they know how to cope with a lot of different situations. "We know St Brigid's will be a very tough challenge on Sunday. They're physically very strong and are a tough team. They've a lot of strength throughout their team, so we view them as a massive challenge. I think scores will be hard come by against St Brigid's, and we fully recognise the size of the task. Hopefully, we can meet the challenge head-on and come out on top, but it's going to be a very tough game for Garrycastle," added Cunningham. At last Saturday's pre-final press conference, Cunningham said Garrycastle have no major injury concerns, and didn't anticipate anything cropping up before the game. "Well, you never know what can happen a few days before a big game. A couple of lads came down with sickness before the semi-final against Athy, so you just don't know. But hopefully everyone will be okay and we expect, at this stage anyway, to have a full-strength panel to work from," Cunningham said. The red and greens side's manager also pointed to his team's vast experience as a critical factor in seeing off a largely youthful Athy in the Leinster semi-final, and said he hopes such mounds of experience will prove important against St Brigid's. Central to the team's enormous store of savvy and know-how is midfielder David O'Shaughnessy, who recently has looked backed to his old-self after a few years of injury torment. The former Westmeath star has been in fine form for Garrycastle during recent outings, forming a formidable midfield axis with Seanie O'Donoghue, and Cunningham was full of praise for O'Shaughnessy's recent efforts. "We have several lads with experience and great character, and David certainly falls into that category. David had a very bad time with injury over recent years, and was written off on numerous occasions, but has shown fantastic levels of determination and commitment to get back to the level he's now at. Nobody could ever have doubted David's ability. He's now domiciled in Dublin, but is constantly coming down to Athlone for training and matches, and is a credit to himself. "Gary Dolan is another player who has had injury problems, but has also come back strongly, and his goal against Athy was absolutely crucial to progressing to the final. The diligence and spirit of both those lads is hugely admirable, and they're fantastic servants to Garrycastle. They epitomise the spirit within the club," said the manager. Cunningham said the importance of the match being played in nearby Tullamore, is only minimal, though he did say there should be a huge level of support for Garrycastle. "The venue is not really important, it never is when you have two very good teams contesting such a big game. I expect Garrycastle will have a large following, but I'd be surprised if it isn't the same for St Brigid's. It's unlikely to have a major bearing on the match," he said. One thing which could greatly impact upon the outcome, though, is Garrycastle's strength in attack. With the likes of Dessie Dolan, Patrick Mulvihill and James Dolan in the mix, the Athlone-men have huge options in terms of wracking-up scores. Cunningham agreed, saying: "Our forwards have been in very good form throughout the championship, and that goes back to the local championship. At any given time, we feel we've six forwards on the pitch who can make an impact, and hopefully it will be the same against St Brigid's. We will have to work hard to get scores, but hopefully we can make it as difficult for them."