Elder Shinrone statesman savouring every moment of golden era

AT 33 years of age, Sean Cleary is very much one of the elder statesmen on the Shinrone team and while now mainly in the role of a very useful sideline option, he is savouring every moment of their golden era.

Now preparing for their third final in four years, all against Kilcormac-Killoughey, it is a great time for a club who won their first title and only title in 2022.

How did it all happen?

“Well I suppose it didn't just happen, it took a lot of time. It took maybe 10 or 12 years, as long as I've been involved. 10 or 12 years of hard work in order to win. A good group of lads there who just kind of did a lot of unseen work I suppose and a lot of work in gyms. We trained hard for 10-12 years and we didn't really get anywhere really. We got to a semi-final in 2012 and after that we didn't get to a semi-final until the year we won it last in 2022. A lot of hard work, a lot of tough moments but we stayed coming back and coming back and I suppose we showed a lot of resilience over the years. It's been a great few years now over the last couple of years. Just our third final in four years so brilliant to be back. “

Shinrone were coming but got a lot of hard knocks before making the breakthrough. Was it frustrating at that stage?

“It definitely was frustrating. Like you said, we did take a big gun out here and there but doing it consistently was the problem. We might beat one of the bigger teams in a group stage but then going a couple of games back to back was our problem. That probably came with a bit of maturity too. As we got older, that group of lads probably got mature and were able to perform maybe a bit better consistently. And then we had a good group of lads coming behind us like Killian Sampson and Dara Maher, Paul Cleary, DJ (McLoughlin), they all came behind us. So they gave us more life again which was brilliant. Yeah it was a tough couple of years but we got the breakthrough eventually in 2022 so it was brilliant.”

The 2022 final win over K-K was such a magical occasion, even for people far from Shinrone who were delighted to see a club win their first.

“It was one of those days. The game itself was tough. The first half of the game was really tough. It was a really close edgy game. They had a couple of goal chances in the beginning. We'd actually done well to get back in and put them off the goal chances but then in the second half we kind of opened up and we really started to hurl and once we got on top we kind of stayed on top and just the momentum came with us. It was brilliant and just the emotion and the joy and just the relief after it was brilliant and like you said it was not just around Shinrone but maybe everyone else as well.”

The 2023 final against K-K went spectacularly wrong for ye?

“It did yeah, again it was the complete opposite, we just couldn't get a foothold in the game whatsoever. From the word go, they were really on it and were really on top. I looked up the scoreboard after 7 or 8 minutes and I think it could have been 1-3 or 1-4 to a point. We were climbing the hill after that and we couldn't really get into the game whatsoever. It was a really, really tough day and we're lucky to get another chance at it again to be honest. We're really looking forward to it.”

Was there a second season syndrome thing going on with Shinrone in 2023?

“No, I don't think so. I think with Trevor Fletcher staying on, it kind of helped. We didn't chop and change, so that helped. And then, I suppose, you win one, you're not happy with one. You get kind of greedy, I suppose, and you want to win more. You think if you win one, you'll be happy forever, but you want more and you want more. It was easy. It was very easy to go back training. you just want another county medal, you just want that one more you know.”

Shinrone were 10 points down at half time in the quarter-final against Coolderry, how did ye turn that around?

“I suppose you have to look at yourself at half time and you have to say, look, we're 10 points down here, what can we do? All we can do is give it our all and work hard. We pushed back up on them a small bit, I suppose, that was the one change we kind of made, I suppose. We pushed back up and we went back at them rather than holding back. And that was it. And all you can do is go at it and go your hardest. And we got back into it and we got the win.”

Shinrone play a fairly specific short passing, possession game. Was there a temptation to discard that and go long in the second half?

“Before the game we actually talked about and we looked at maybe how they hurled and they're a really good team, they work really hard and they're physical. But we kind of saw that they tended to tire towards the end of the games. And we knew if we just stayed going, stayed going, stayed going, stayed plugging, that we would get them breaks. And if we stay doing what we're doing and stay with what we're good at, we will get there in the end. “

There was positive word of mouth coming out of Shinrone early that ye were moving well and the championship has proven this?

“Up and down. Before Championship, I suppose, we got to the League Final. A couple of league games we were a bit up and down. We didn't perform in every game. We had a lot of lads in with Offaly, there was a big turnover there. We got to the League Final. We played Kilcormac and they beat us by three points. We had a poor first half, similar to Coolderry, came back into it in the second half, but it was too much of a gap to claw back. We hurled well that day and coming into the championship game then we hurled well in the Rynagh's game, we kind of worked hard rather than hurling well and that continued on, we kind of improved as the year went on and it was just about a kind of peaking at the right time and now we can do one more.”

Belmont were closer than the scoreline suggested but Shinrone never looked like losing that semi-final?

“Yeah we got ahead very early and we kind of kept that two or three point lead the whole game. I think with about 10 minutes to go we kind of got more of a foothold into the game. They kind of threw a lot of men forward and left a lot of space in our forward line and we capitalised on that. I suppose we got 1-2 or 1-3 there without reply near the end and we pulled out there by 7 or 8 points.”

Is it an advantage or disadvantage that it is K-K and ye know them so well?

“It's irrelevant really, I suppose. It's an advantage for us, but it's an advantage for them as well. We both know each other so well, you know. No, I'm really looking forward to it because they won one,we've-won one. It's great to see now.”

And you've drawn one this year

“And we've drawn one, yeah. So it's great to see where it's going to go. Look, they're a great team. We're under no illusions. They work hard. They have brilliant hurlers all over the field and we know we just have to match them for that. We are planning to work as hard as them and if we can work as hard, hopefully we can win it.”

How important is it for Shinrone to win a second title?

“Yeah, that's something we talked about at the beginning of the year, even before, in between managers last year, it was kind of this time last year, we organised a players' meeting, we talked about not being the team to have one county medal, we want to have at least one more. That's a real driving force for this team this year, I think, not having one medal, to have at least one more. So that is probably the driving force this year, to be honest.”

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Shinrone probably have a natural affinity with Birr but O'Connor Park seems to suit this team?

“It does yeah. Recently it has. Over the last 2 or 3 years I suppose it has. But before that we've always said, no we prefer Birr, but over the last 2 or 3 years we've really enjoyed playing Tullamore. We didn't get to play there last year. In '23 we played the quarter final against Birr and the semi final against Ballinamere in Tullamore and we really enjoyed playing there. So yeah, looking forward to getting back there again, we haven't been there in a few years so it's great.”