Morgan Fuels Down SFC round one
Warrenpoint v Clonduff (Monday, Kilcoo, 7pm)
IT is hard to say no when your county calls, but Gearoid Adams always felt there was a bit of unfinished business when it came to Clonduff.
The west Belfast man was in charge of the Hilltown club in 2015 before Antrim boss and firm friend Frank Fitzsimons enlisted his help with the Saffrons. Adams rebuffed the offer a couple of times, before eventually allowing his heart to have the final say.
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But Clonduff, even in that short time, made an impression – and when Adrian Cush stepped aside, the pair were brought together once more.
“I was in with Clonduff a year when big Frank came calling… obviously you don’t get too many opportunities to take your county, so I went in with him – but I always promised I would go back,” said Adams, who has brother-in-law and current Antrim player Paddy McBride in his backroom team.
“The year after Ross [Carr] brought them to the county final so you could see they were a good team, and it’s a great club – they do everything the right way, their values are brilliant, their football is their priority, they’re a brilliant community.
“As somebody who lives in the city and played for a city club, you look at the likes of Clonduff and think wouldn’t it be great to play for a club like this, where your parish is basically your club and there’s a massive connection there.
“Their values mix with my values, they’re very forward thinking and very passionate about their football.”
The Yellas have struggled for continuity in managerial terms in the time since, with Mark Harte and Adrian O’Donnell, Ciaran McBride and Cush all coming and going as neighbours Kilcoo continued their dominance of the Down championship.
And it was a hot and heavy meeting between these rivals last year that leaves Clonduff severely depleted going into Monday’s clash with Warrenpoint at Kilcoo’s Pairc Eoghan Rua.
Darren O’Hagan, Eamon Brown and Padraig Wilson were all suspended for two championship games after the ugly scenes at the end of that semi-final clash at Pairc Esler, with midfielder Ross Carr handed a one-game ban.
Paddy Branagan is in Australia, key forward Barry O’Hagan is out for the year after suffering a second cruciate ligament injury on county duty with Down, while the club and community are still trying to make sense of the tragic loss of defender Lorcan Branagan in March.
Although the ‘Point are currently in a period of transition under stalwarts John Boyle and Ryan McAleenan, Adams knows the scale of the challenge facing his men on Monday after spending four years with neighbours Burren under Jim McCorry.
“It wasn’t so long ago that Warrenpoint were in the county final. There was a long time they hadn’t beaten Burren in the championship and then they did, so they’re a force to be reckoned with.
“From our point of view, the brief is very simple this year… it was well documented that a few boys were travelling, and then there’s men suspended, so you knew from the start that the league was going to be tight, and the championship was going to be tighter.
“So you’ve been really looking to try and find a squad that is a bit different to the last couple of years.”
