Coolfadda Developers Ltd marked their debut season in inter-firms competition by winning the Kerry junior football title and pushing Cork Teachers all the way in the Munster final. Needless to say, Coolfadda manager Tom O'Connell was proud of his team's achievements. Every year, the GAA's inter-firms competition provides tremendous enjoyment for hundreds of company employees across the country. And despite receiving little or no media coverage, the inter-firm championships are keenly contested with county, provincial and All-Ireland titles being much sought-after prizes. In 2007, Coolfadda Developers fielded an inter-firms football team for the first time. And to the delight of all involved, they surpassed expectations by capturing the Kerry junior title and subsequently qualifying for the provincial decider which they lost to Cork Teachers after extra-time. "We did better than a lot of people expected," the Coolfadda team manager Tom O'Connell proudly states. "We have a lot of guys working with us who play football with their clubs, and we decided to see how we would get on playing in the inter-firms last year. And while we were disappointed not to win the Munster final, it was a good year overall with our victory in the Kerry championship being the obvious highlight." Coolfadda Developers is actually based in Bandon, Co. Cork but because most of the company's recent building work had taken place in Kerry and the majority of its staff hail from the Kingdom, it was decided to enter the Kerry junior championship rather than the equivalent in Cork. "Because most of the team is from Kerry, it made sense to enter that competition," explains project manager and wing back Cathal Dineen, who was one of a handful of Cork men involved. "For the past few years, we have been building housing schemes in places like Castleisland, Sneem, Kenmare and Listowel, and most of the guys who have worked on those projects are from Kerry. Because there are only 60 directly employed by the company, our sub-contractors were allowed to play with us. To be honest, we wouldn't have been able to field a team without them." He continues: "The idea of entering a team had been bandied about before one of our sub-contractors, Cathal O'Connor, went ahead and paid for our affiliation fee. He was the main driving force behind getting the thing started and later proved himself to be a great captain. "Another person who deserves special mention is Betty Walsh from Castleisland who acted as our secretary and our first aid person and was also our chef-on-site." Having tasted All-Ireland inter-firms glory as a player with GTI, Abbeyfeale in 1992 and later trained his home club Cordal, Tom O'Connell was duly appointed team manager and was assisted by selector John Healy. In their opening game, Coolfadda overcame Liebherr, Killarney but were then forced to give a walkover to Garvey's Super Valu in their next outing. When KMS defeated them in their third match, the signs looked ominous for Coolfadda, but they recovered to beat Kerry Co-Op in their final game of the round-robin series and thus set up a rematch with KMS in the county final. In what proved to be a very close game at Lisdry, Coolfadda avenged their earlier loss with a 0-10 to 0-9 victory. With the Kerry title safely tucked away, Coolfadda then set their sights on adding provincial honours. They were due to meet Killenuale Construction in the semi-final, but the Tipperary champions were unable to fulfil the fixture, meaning Coolfadda qualified directly for the Munster final against Cork Teachers. The final took place at Glenflesk in October and for long stages, it looked as if the Kerry champions would prevail. But Cork Teachers staged a late comeback to force extra-time and they eventually won by two points. "We were leading by six points going into the last 10 minutes, but they managed to claw back the deficit and take the game into extra-time. At the start of extra-time, we conceded a quick 1-1 and despite our best efforts, we never fully recovered from that. But I must say it was a great effort by the lads and with a bit of luck, they could have won the Munster title," Tom recalls. While full of praise for the support the team received from Coolfadda directors Paul Collins and Conor Slattery, O'Connell isn't sure if the company will be entering a team again in 2008. "I can't say at this stage if we'll be putting out a team again this year. We found it difficult to maintain the interest at times last year because of the number of postponements. But it's worth putting up with things like that when you get a bit of reward at the end of it." Established in 2003, Coolfadda Developers Ltd specialises in developing property from green-field sites, renovating existing properties and providing construction for other developers. Based in Bandon Business Centre, the company has completed a variety of major projects throughout Ireland for numerous clients of all sectors. Coolfadda was founded with the aim of going beyond the traditional builder-client relationship and extend it into dealing with sales, legal, regulation and property management issues that build contracts entail. The company's first project was 'Wayside Cresent', a 32-house development in Clonakilty, followed by a 48-bedroom student accommodation in College Road, Cork. Thereafter, Coolfadda completed a 42-house scheme in Moyvane, Co. Kerry and has since carried out other prestigious developments in Bandon, Listowel and Kenmare. Coolfadda started with a workforce of only 10 employees five years ago. Today, the company has 60 direct employees both in the office and on-site, and 200 indirect employees with its sub-contract base. The 2007 Coolfadda Developers Ltd inter-firms football panel was: Bartley O'Connor (Ballylongford), Brian Coughlan (Asdee), Mark Halloran (Moyvane), Tom Denihan (Ballydonoghue), Michael Cahill (Cordal), Cathal O'Connor (Moyvane, captain), Cathal Dineen (Timoleague), William Madden (Moyvane), John Doran (Asdee), Shane Sheehan (Tarbert), Kieran Mulvihill (Ballylongford), Padraig Dignan (Cordal), Damien Flynn (Moyvane), Stephen Keohane (Inniskeen), Oliver Carmody (Moyvane), John Connell (Tarbert), Barry Lynch (Castleisland Desmonds), Ger McCarthy (Listowel Emmets), John Jack Mulvihill (Moyvane), Tim O'Donoghue (Cordal), Noel Keohane (Inniskeen). Tweet

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