Maher wants Gallen CS boys to ‘play the game, not the occasion’

By Kevin Egan

It’s a cool and dry evening under the floodlights at Doon GAA club, but the signs of a long and wet winter are still there in the soil, where to use a Cheltenham term, the going could be described as soft, yielding in places.

You wouldn’t know it to watch the young footballers of Gallen Community School go through their paces, one of their last few workouts before heading to Markievicz Park for their All-Ireland Post Primary Schools ‘D’ final against Scoil Mhuire, Buncrana tomorrow (Saturday, throw-in 2pm). There’s a spring in their step that betrays the excitement in the camp, while masking the softness of the playing surface.

The excitement is understandable. For nearly all of these players, this is the biggest game they’ll have played in their short careers so far. For many, even if they go on to fulfil their potential at adult level, it may continue to be the high point. That’s certainly the case for team manager and teacher Joe Maher, who scored two points and set up Aaron McDonagh’s vital goal in Gallen’s win over Clonakilty VS in the 2011 Vocational Schools final.

“Some of my best playing days were heading up to Croke Park, playing in two All-Ireland finals up there. I’ve won a county championship with my club in Ferbane, I’ve represented Offaly and I’m very proud of both of those things, they mean a lot to me, but my best playing days were with Gallen,” he reflects, which is no small statement, given his impressive footballing CV.

A drop in enrolment numbers, reflecting the wider demographic issue of rural depopulation in areas such as west Offaly, saw Gallen CS make the drop from playing Vocational Schools football, and later winning an All-Ireland “B” title, to ‘D’ level in recent years.

For some, that would represent a fall from grace. For a school like Gallen, with a total enrolment of just over 400, half of which are girls, it would seem to be much closer to their natural level. Even at ‘D’ grade, they still tend to be on the smaller side. Dungarvan CBS, their All-Ireland semi-final opponents, have 366 boys enrolled. Scoil Mhuire Buncrana, the opposition tomorrow, have just under 800, split between the genders.

Despite this, Gallen CS have been competitive. Two years ago, many of these players won Leinster medals, before they ran into a very strong Belmullet side in the All-Ireland semi-final. Maher, in conjunction with the local clubs and other coaching staff in the school, has built towards this campaign ever since.

“This didn’t just happen this year,” he says. We lost an All-Ireland semi-final two years ago and a lot of these lads would have played in that. We’ve kept that group together and worked with them, and then introduced lads up from junior as they’ve been ready, so this has been coming together over the last couple of years.

“The lads are fit, they came to the setup this year fit from playing with their clubs and counties, and we want to play attacking football with them, that’s our style, to let them play their natural football and not to feel restricted,” he added.

In a championship with a huge number of schools competing, all they needed now was a focal point, something to hone in on as a target. The success of a school just 15 minutes down the road a year previous was all they needed, according to Maher.

“We had Clara (Ard Scoil Chiaráin Naofa) in the back of our heads,” he said.

“They got to an All-Ireland final last year and got beaten in that and we knew that they had a lot of those players back in, with a few other promising players coming up to back them up. We obviously wouldn’t disrespect any opponent, we had a lot of close games this year and if we underestimated anyone, we would have got caught out, but once we got over that Clara game we knew that we were in good shape.

“Then last time out, we kicked 3-17 from play and when you’re doing that, you’re doing something right, and you’ve no cause to fear anyone.”

It’s not just in the classroom that the student has become the teacher either.

“It’s great to be back here, as part of a great school and in my home town. The lads are a mature bunch, they’re very easy to coach and very easy to teach, and they know that this is special too, and it’s just how the circle goes. Fran Mulhall was my manager (back in 2011 and 2012) and his message was to play the game, not the occasion, and that’s the same message I’m trying to get through to the lads now.”

Thirteen years later, the hope now for Gallen CS is that the same message yields the same outcome.