'You can’t rest on the past’ - Flanagan urges Pearses to achieve more

To say Pat Flanagan is experienced when it comes to managing teams in county finals would be a gross understatement.

Flanagan’s first managerial involvement was with the Clara minor teams of 1995 and 1996, before he guided Kilbeggan Shamrocks to the Westmeath intermediate title in 2000. Senior success with his home club Clara followed in 2003 before a successful spell in charge of Tyrrellspass yielded two Westmeath senior crowns and a Leinster final appearance.

And having managed Westmeath, Sligo and Offaly at senior inter-county level, Flanagan led Pádraig Pearses to their first Roscommon senior title in 2019. Every county final is a unique occasion in its own right, but Sunday’s decider against Clann na nGael will be very different in that Flanagan is suspended from patrolling the sideline.

Both Flanagan and one of the team’s key players, Conor Daly, were sent off in the semi-final. And while Daly has been cleared to play in the final, Flanagan didn’t get a reprieve from his suspension.

Asked about a possible appeal at last week’s press function in Woodmount, Flanagan said: “I don’t see any grounds at this moment in time to be honest.”

“It’s going to be difficult for me. I’m 27 years managing football teams and it’s going to be the first game I’m going to miss,” he said. “I’ll have to find a way of managing it somehow. It’s not going to be the same for me obviously, but what can I do?”

Flanagan was still awaiting confirmation as to the exact stipulations of where he can and can’t be on the day – but he certainly won’t be allowed on the sideline, and he believes even the dressing room will be off limits.

Having shown some promising league form, Flanagan felt his side’s championship performances “dipped a small bit” and he admitted the team wasn’t clicking as well as the management team had hoped. Indeed, Pearses had to negotiate a play-off to secure their place in the quarter-finals.

“We have introduced a couple of younger players into the set-up. As things have progressed, we’ve got that little bit better and hopefully we can step it up a small bit more,” said Flanagan.

Pearses showed their true capabilities in a tremendous semi-final against St Brigid’s, thereby avenging the result of last year’s county final.

“It was one of those games that you look back on and say it was a pleasure to be part of. It was a really good game of football,” Flanagan reflected.

Praising the “spirit and character” his players showed against Brigid’s, Flanagan said: “This team probably performs better when their backs are to the wall”.

Recalling that his charges were two points down at the second water break, he said: “It showed the character and desire to come up against a team of Brigid’s stature and outscore them by five points to one in the last period.”

Asked about the huge experience within the Pearses ranks, Flanagan said: “If this team was in other counties like Offaly and Westmeath, where I’ve managed teams before, they would walk the championship, that’s my opinion. The one thing they had to get over was the fact that they hadn’t won a championship in the past.

“I’m a firm believer that history is massive in Gaelic football. Clann has that history, Clann knows how to win championships. We’re still trying to find out how to do that. That’s the one difference and the gap we have to bridge next Sunday,” continued the Pearses manager.

Flanagan had the honour of leading Pearses to a historic breakthrough two years ago, but he agrees that winning a second title would really prove the team’s worth.

“You can’t rest on the past, it (the 2019 success) was great at the time. It was a pleasure to be part of it. But if you’re not going forward, you’re going backways. Last year we didn’t win so we did go backways and everyone would agree that we didn’t perform to our ability in the final against Brigid’s,” he said.

“It’s all about trying to get to a level that you’re at your best; hopefully we’re getting there, and we certainly would need to be there to beat Clann.

“In 2019, we were going quite well and we won our first couple of games and we came out here in this field and Clann beat us. It’s very much a neighbourhood game, they’re just down the road from us. They will be expecting to win the game and it’s going to be very tight.”

The teams met in the group stages of this year’s championship, with Clann winning by 0-14 to 0-10 in Johnstown. Flanagan admitted his team was beaten more comprehensively than the scoreline suggested that night.

“It was a night-time game on a tighter pitch. Our team might be a bit different than it was that night. But the four-point gap didn’t do them justice – they beat us much more than the scoreline showed to be totally honest. They were all over us throughout,” he remarked.

However, Flanagan believes that last year’s semi-final cliffhanger (when Pearses edged out Clann by 1-11 to 1-10) is “a more reliable guide” as to what sort of game the county final will be.

He said: “I think it will be that scenario. I don’t think it’s going to be a runaway game. “It’s going to be the team that wants it more and shows the greater character that’s going to prevail in the end.”

Flanagan has previously spoken in very positive terms about this Pearses group and what they can achieve.

“I do believe they have the potential; but potential is only that. I’ve seen many a team with potential that didn’t realise it,” he said. “I think if this team realises their potential, they can win a Connacht championship and maybe more. But that’s only if they go on and realise their potential.”

Flanagan believes this year's semi-final battle will stand to his team and their scoring tally that day of 0-18 is likely to boost confidence levels.

“To score 18 points against Brigid’s is an excellent return. “The style of play we had chosen earlier in the year probably didn’t assist our forwards to achieve that. Hopefully the pattern of play that we have at this moment in time gives them a better opportunity to get those type of scores.”

Asked to pinpoint some of the main threats in the Clann team, Flanagan chose to focus on the collective.

“I’m not one for picking out individuals – it is a team sport and the one thing about Clann is that they are able to complement each other right across the park,” he said.

“If somebody is not up to scratch for a particular phase of a game, somebody else steps up and that’s the mark of a very good team, and that’s why Clann are where they are at the moment,” Flanagan added.