James Clarke has been a bluechip performer for Killinkere at senior level for the past five years. 2008 promises more of the same. There aren't many footballers in county Cavan that can get punters off their seats and keep defenders on their toes for the duration of a match but James Clarke is one such player. And yet he is the last to confer any special talent on himself and, instead, he possesses a self-deprecating assessment of his own worth. For instance, he reckons in 2007 his form for his club was very inconsistent and his contribution to the cause wasn't as potent as he would have wished. And yet his displays for the green and yellows singled out him as 'county standard', a notion which was confirmed before the season's end when he got the nod from Donal Keogan. Being selected to play along with others from his club, Maghera, Munterconnacht, Ramor Utd and Kingscourt as part of the divisional games experiment was most welcome, he says. "It gave me a chance to make up for some or my poorer performances during the year and to play with players who were similarly ambitious and who were out to prove themselves. "My form was a bit up and down during the year but that was typical really of a lot of my form; inconsistency has been a big drawback for me over the years. "If there was any part of my game that I wanted to improve in the coming year it would be to get more consistency into my game; I need to be more involved in a game and for longer." The fact is the 24-year old speedster has been Killinkere's principal scoregetter (and no mean scoremaker) for practically each of the last six years he's been on the senior scene. No wonder then that he should show the necessary football nous, experience and werewithall to impressive the Cavan senior team-management sufficiently well last November. His recall to the senior county squad gave James great satisfaction and his admirers the nod that they weren't too bad at the ratings game after all! "I was delighted to be called into the squad for the McKenna Cup campaign and really enjoyed getting my teeth into the training which was very interesting and enjoyable. "It's a big step up from club training; it's far more intensive but a lot of it revolves around football drills so it's not boring and it's geared towards getting you fit over the season." It has to be remembered, of course, that James's 2008 McKenna Cup outings represented his second stint with Cavan's premier team, his second coming, so to speak. In 2004 he was a member of the Cavan squad managed by Meath native Mattie Kerrigan and he recalls being part of good wins against Meath and Kildare in the league but . . . . "Back then we seemed to be hitting peak fitness around the spring whereas the training around January now is more about pacing yourself to hit the high gears in the summer. "I love to be involved, one way or the other, irrespective of what the training is like or who is over the team even though it takes a lot of commitment." Indeed, that "commitment" is best measured by the fact that for Cavan's trip to Pairc Esler for their McKenna Cup midweek tilt with Down, James clocked in a nine hour evening. Meeting up in Cavan town at 4.30pm, heading for Newry, playing the game and then returning home circa 12.30am is a long, long day, especially on top of your normal workding day. James agrees that it helps not to have a so-called '9-5' day job when putting in such serious commitment and he accepts that he is personally in a very accomodating job. "I work as a Maths and PE teacher in St. Clare's College, Ballyjamesduff so it's probably a good bit easier for me to make the training sessions in the evening. "There's no doubt that teaching makes it much easier to be able to give the county scene the kind of commitment that's needed because it is a hell of a commitment, time-wise." James says he was surprised to get the call-up to the county squad last winter "especially as I had quite a few poor games in the league for the club last year." It didn't help, of course, anyone's form at the club that the green and golds were struggling at the foot of the league table, working desperately to keep their heads above water. In the championship, a relegation play-off win was all that separated the club and the drop down to junior championship status which "would have been a disaster" James states. "2007 didn't turn out the way any of us would have wanted because we struggled in both the championship and the league instead of maybe being in the running to win both. "We were lucky that we beat Laragh in a vital league match in Stradone towards the end of the season. I remember at the time Laragh had only four points in the league just like us. "If we lost to Laragh, it might have meant curtains for us in the league because we had some fairly tough games after the one in Stradone. "The big thing with us is that we can pull out a big performance when it's really put up to us - the team showed a lot of character when we were six points down to Drung, for instance." A pivotal figure in a Killinkere team for which the average age is arguably one of the youngest in the county at intermediate level, James says there is good potential in the squad. He cites the loss of experienced players though like Tommy Smith, Ciaran Cooney and Fergus Reilly as big blows. "They were physically strong players too," he explains. James is delighted that John Mulvanny is back at the helm as manager for the coming year though. He recalls Mulvanny leading the club to the IFC semi-final three years ago. "He (Mulvanny) can get the best out of us and we were very unlucky that time (2005) to lose out by a couple of points in the semi-final to Cuchullains who went onto win it. "This will be my sixth year playing with the club at senior level and I would love to pick up a medal of some sort in 2008. "I think if everyone puts their shoulder to the wheel this year we can be successful - we're definitely in with a fighting chance of winning either the league or the championship." With such promising young talent as Emmet Fitzsimons, Kevin McCabe and Peter McCabe destined to add to the Killinkere squad this year in a big way, James is very optimistic. With teams in division two, division five and division six of the All-County Football Leagues, Killinkere certainly don't lack for playing numbers and James is happy with the quality. At a fighting fit weight of 12 and a half stone, the 5'10" flying forward will once again be Killinkere's flagship player in attack but James has proven he can lead the line. He is very proud of his club and says the plans Killinkere have for the development of their facilities in the coming year fairly indicates the level of enthusiasm within the club. "Luckily, there are a lot of people who are prepared to roll up their sleeves on the development of new pitches or whatever else is planned," James enthuses. "Most success is gained from hard work and we know that in Killinkere and hopefully the way things are progressing off the field will be matched by what we do on the field in the coming months." Tweet

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