Down but not out
November 27, 2011The point is well made. Ronan Cassidy reminds us that Eire Og lost a hat-trick of important league games in 2011 by just a single point.
To his credit, the influential club midfielder eschews the temptation to rail against the deities as he reflects on a rather gloomy year pregnated by relegation.
Instead, the erstwhile Australia-based accountant talks about lessons that need to be learned from the past year while at the same time forensically seeking out a silver lining or three.
Ronan's own post-season analysis is lightened by the fact that he's a half-glass full type of footballer and he and the vast majority of his team-mates have time on their side.
However, there's unmistakenly a heaviness of heart about his reflections. Relegation, after all, cast a distinct pall of doom over his part of the parish of Roslea.
Still, the recuperation process is well down the line; helped by the fact also that Eire Og's flagship team finished with a flourish, adding the sort of garnish that left that little bit less of a sour taste in club mouths as they collectively fell through the relegation trapdoor.
"We finished the season quite well," the 27-year old seasoned campaigner enthuses. "In the last five games, we won three, drew one and just lost one, to Carrick, so at least we didn't go down without a fight."
The sorry fact is, neither the return from Down Under of the team's mecurial midfielder nor a belated realisation of their own capabilities was adequate to extricate the Eire Og players from the cloying morass of the relegation places.
In the process of rejoining the junior ranks for 2012, Eire Og experienced a rollercoaster ride beloved of teams with a self-destructive trait.
At times during the past year, the Smithboro-based crew reprised the sort of form that catapulted them to the intermediate semi-final three seasons ago but, on too many on too many other occasions, Eire Og's inconsistencies had them progressing up the table with all the speed of pall bearers.
League tables are rarely charged with perjury of course and as the season got into its stride, it became increasingly obvious that Eire Og were destined to inhabit the wrong end of the table come the business end of the year.
In truth, few teams who start on the backfoot in the spring and dwell in the mire of the bottom three positions for three quarters of the year the way Eire Og did in 2011 can expect to enjoy an autumn residence at the summit of the league.
Like every club, Eire Og were making bullish noises at the start of the year but one wonders now were unrealistic expectations being nursed.
After all, our man Cassidy was ensconced in Australia as the 2011 season kicked off and so too were Conor Murtagh and Darren Sweeney. Mark McCaffrey looked on from London. Few small rural clubs can afford to lay grand designs without four of their top first-teamers.
Then there were the fellas at home who weren't part of the picture in 2011; sure-footed operators like Eamonn Brady and Kieran McKenna who had both decided to hang up their boots plus Colm Casey and Darragh McCluskey. The omens just simply weren't good.
Away in the antipodes from November 2009 to June 2011, Ronan's loss from the engine room saw Eire Og labour for half the season to stay with the pace of their opponents.
His fetching, ability to win frees and his super engine were pivotal in driving Eire Og to many an epochal victory, most notably in 2007 when he captained the club to the JFL title, six years after the club had opened the noughties with a similar triumph.
Son of Ray and Margaret Cassidy, Ronan returned home from Australia in mid-June, just a week ahead of the game against Corduff in the championship opener in which he was to feature as a substitute.
The best efforts of all and sundry representing Eire Og couldn't stop the Farneymen from chaperoning Cassidy and co out through the back door.
Thereafter, Rockcorry ripped the safety net from under Eire Og and the latter's championship hopes fell like autumn leaves on steroids.
"We did okay in the first half against Rockcorry. I think they were only six points to three in front at half-time but they ran riot in the second half and we lost heart and our form collapsed.
"I think everyone - looking back on the whole year and the championship especially - would say that they could have played a good bit better and that nobody played consistently well," Ronan opines.
"I suppose a lot of people looking at our overall performances during the year would say that we only got what we deserved and it's hard to argue with that even though we did give ourselves a chance of staying up with that good run towards the end of the year.
"We were relegated in 2006 as well but only spent the one year in junior so hopefully history will repeat itself in 2012."
Nothing brings together a team better than a touch of adversity and Ronan is confident that there's enough spirit and ambition in Eire Og's ranks to see them showcase their bounce-ability trait last seen in 2007.
He acknowledges though that it won't be easy to break free from the bearpit that is junior football. The vista isn't helped by the spectre of further emigration and a couple of derby duels in-waiting that can make or break a team's season.
"Junior is a very hard league to do well in, especially if you go about your business with the wrong attitude and aren't clued into training from the word go. As we learned this year, you can't afford to be losing a few games on the trot in the first few weeks 'cause it's very hard to make up lost ground.
"I'd be hopeful that we'll learn from our experience this year and I think we can all take heart from the two wins we had over Currin this year.
"They're going to be playing senior football in 2012 so we need to take inspiration from what they have achieved and realise what we have got going for ourselves.
"We beat Currin at their place - the first time we met them - at a time when the result meant a lot to them. Looking back, that game was probably our best of the year."
Ronan says he enjoyed the best of times Down Under and had a whale of a time playing Gaelic football in Melbourne for his adopted Wolfe Tones club.
Invariably lining out at either midfield or full-back, his safari with the 'Tones saw him collect league and championship medals in the company of such luminaries as Donaghmoyne trio Francis and Seamus Markey and Declan Lynch plus ex-Armagh senior countyman Marty Ferris.
Wolfe Tones were good enough to beat the best of the bunch in Sydney as well plus Brisbane too. Happy days.
Ronan says the standard of football in Australia compares favourably with that exhibited on an annual basis in Monaghan IFL circles.
With his two year visa exhausted, Ronan made his way back to Gransha. That was always the plan, the erstwhile Fosters brewery employee tells us.
Understandably, the plan to hit the ground running on his return to the oul sod didn't quite run as smoothly.
"I found it tough to get back into the swing of things," Ronan admits. "I wouldn't have been nearly as fit when I came back for the championship here as I would have wanted. I hadn't played football for three weeks in Australia in the run-up to my return to Ireland."
Given a run with the county under 21s back in the days when Colm Coyle held the reins, Ronan says that his aim is to concentrate on bolstering a revival of Eire Og's fortunes over the coming months.
But what if Eamonn McEneaney came calling?
"I don't think that's going to happen. To be honest, the plan is to do my best for the club. Getting a run with the county isn't the number one on my wish list.
"Being on any county panel these days is really like being part of a professional set-up and that has to be taken into account by anyone who's keen to play intercounty football at senior level.
"Fair play to the lads who give the commitment to play with the county seniors. They deserve a lot of credit for buying into the training and discipline that's required to play at the highest level."
With a couple of JFL medals already on the sideboard, there's obviously no prizes for guessing that Ronan would dearly love to plant a JFC gong on the mantlepiece next September/October.
He anticipates that the likes of Drumhowan and Toome will prove major obstacles in 2012.
Eire Og have been known over the years for their indefatigable nature and their sheer will-to-win.
So don't bet against our man Cassidy and his team-mates gaining redemption in 2012 before the autumn leaves start falling. Tweet
