Leinster title would be ‘the icing on the cake’ - Gary Connaughton
To borrow a phrase from William Shakespeare, Gary Connaughton has certainly experienced ‘the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune’ with Tubberclair over the years, both as a player and on the sideline.
“I played intermediate championship when I was 15. We got hammered by Ballinagore in the first round. There were no groups back then,” recalled Connaughton at the club’s Leinster final preview gathering last week.
“The following year, we played Ballynacargy and got beaten by about 20 points so that was my first two years playing intermediate and you’re thinking ‘what the hell is this about?’
“I’ve seen the ups and downs. I saw that great minor team coming through in 2000 and that was the backbone for intermediate success in 2002. Same again in 2009, those players went up senior, came back down to intermediate.
“We had a great St Brigid’s clubman in Tom Lennon with us that year (2009) and we won the intermediate (county title) and got to the Leinster final,” continued Connaughton, who is part of the management team preparing for Sunday’s Leinster intermediate final against Sallins of Kildare.
Recalling the 2009 Leinster final against Maynooth, Gary said: “The pitch was a swamp that day; it shouldn’t have been played. A Leinster final shouldn’t be played on a pitch like that. We had a great year and just fell short in the last few minutes, and it was a big regret alright. We could have gotten a Leinster club medal out of it.”
From being close to winning a Leinster intermediate title, Tubberclair went down to the junior grade of Westmeath football in more recent years. Having won the junior title in 2020, the intermediate championship proved elusive until this year.
“The influx of these great underage players coming through has really helped to bring the club back up to senior level again. So hopefully they’ll push on now and be a good strong team in senior football for the coming years,” said Gary. “We’ve had a great run of it in the last 18 months – minor, U20, intermediate, winning promotions in the league. To win a Leinster tile really would be the icing on the cake.
“We know Sallins are hot favourites, but we have to look at Mullinalaghta (Longford) beating Kilmacud Crokes (Dublin) a few years ago in the Leinster senior championship so anything is possible on the day. You’re going up a notch now against Sallins; they’re a top team. But if our lads produce the best performance they’ve had of the year, they’re well capable of winning it.”
A Leinster medal winner with Westmeath in 2004, Connaughton was chosen as the All Star goalkeeper in 2008. He has obviously kept a close eye on the way the role of goalkeeper has changed over the years, and he is full of praise for the impact of current Tubberclair netminder Kevin Fagan.
“We always had good goalkeepers in the club since the likes of Carthage Conlon and Alan Cunningham. Kevin and Simon Fagan are two good goalkeepers. Kevin is having a great year, he’s playing great stuff and he’s a big part of the success this year. Kevin is an experienced goalkeeper. He’s played on county panels and played against county players. He will deal with whatever comes up against Sallins.”
Connaughton feels the current Tubberclair players are a highly motivated bunch and he doesn’t feel the need to overload them with words of advice.
“I don’t think there’s a whole lot to say to them - they’re very motivated lads and very dedicated. I remember passing by here on Christmas Day last year and there were four or five cars outside. They were in here doing gym work on Christmas morning. They live and breathe the game and motivation is not an issue with them,” said Gary.
“It’s just about keeping them focused, but overall they’re a great bunch of lads to work with. And I really hope they get their success in Leinster now. It would be one of the biggest achievements the club ever had, along with winning the (Westmeath) senior title in 1985. I’d say winning Leinster would probably surpass that now,” he added.