Scanlon aiming to lead “humbled” Clara back to top flight

RELEGATION from the Senior Football Championship came as a mighty shock to the system to Clara last year.

Senior since winning the intermediate in 1956 and on most people's short list of contenders almost continuously since 1990, when an outstanding new generation brought Clara's second golden era, few expected them to make the drop last year.

It happened, however, as a miserable year for Clara ended with defeat in a relegation play off by Bracknagh. In the group, they had lost to Rhode, pipped Cappincur and then a second half collapse against Tullamore had propelled them into a winner's take all tussle with Bracknagh.

It was a big blow to morale in a very proud club. For years, them, Rhode, Tullamore and Edenderry were the top four in the senior championship – Ferbane made it five before Clara dropped out of that list.

Yet Clara's reputation has not always been based on hard facts. Manager Mark Scanlon suggested as much last week when he spoke ahead of Sunday's Senior “B” Football Championship final against Tubber, pointing out that they are actually a quite small club, have had long dry spells and have just won six Senior Football Championship titles in their history – 1960, 1964, 1991, 1993, 2003 and 2009.

A forward on the Clara team that won in 1993, he was too young in 1991 and was out of the country in 2003, Scanlon is in his second year as Clara manager. Warm favourites for the senior “B” title since the off, Clara have advanced according to plan, winning their three group games and hammering Walsh Island in the semi-final.

Last week as Tullamore and Rhode geared up for the senior final, Scanlon found himself in the somewhat surreal situation of being asked about the second tier final and Clara's remarkable fall from grace.

“It is a hard one to answer because it is the first time it happened but all I can say is the response from the lads has been great. Two weeks after Bracknagh beat us, the boys were back in the gym and their attitude has been great. It was a bit of a humbling experience as well which was no harm. When we play teams now, we show them the respect they deserve and it shows by the way we play. Going forward that won't be a bad thing for the club.

“Now the one thing you have to do is get straight back up. It is always going to be tricky. It is a tough championship. There are good teams in it. Now Bracknagh are coming back down and Durrow proved this year how strong it can be. Durrow just got over Tubber last year so we showed the respect it deserved and we are playing in it because we deserved to be in it.”

He admitted that last year was tough but pointed to extenuating circumstances and the necessary turnover of players as they went through a transition phase. 12 players made debuts between last year and this year and he looks on this as a big positive. “They are all good lads and they drive it on. And the likes of Carl Stewart and Colm Doyle are a year older, they are the driving forces behind it and will be for a good while to come. They are only 23/24 years of age. They are being asked to be leaders very young. You have the likes of Scott (Brady), Ross (Brady) and Tommo (Thomas Deehan) and they are not getting any younger.”

Scanlon spoke about the issues caused by a generation gap and pointed out that they had no one between the ages of 23 and 30 last year. “That is a problem when it happens in a club. It is up to the club to realise what happened to that generation. They were there and now they are not there. It wasn't the easiest of times but I think we and the players have dealt with it fairly well.”

He is unsure about why the generation gap exists but pointed out that players such as Luke Kelly, Adam Scanlon and others are now in Carolina in America. “Lads that probably could have played for Offaly. You are talking probably four county standard players there that you just can't lose. I don't know what happened. The crash would have been around that time and the recovery from it. There wouldn't have been that much around, they probably had to go.”

He didn't take on the manager's job determined to build a new team, stating that they were forced into it. “It was always the plan to do it,” he said, but pointed out that Ross Brady missed the whole season last year, Thomas Deehan only came back near the end and Scott Brady only played in the last game, when he got injured.

“Like Cormac Delaney's first senior match for Clara was centre forward against Rhode on Brian Darby. We didn't even have a league last year. It was his first introduction to senior football. Is that fair? But it had to be done. You put your confidence in these boys and in fairness to them, we put it up to Rhode for a good bit but they were brilliant in the third quarter. We beat Cappincur, a tough game and we really had Tullamore on the ropes for the first forty minutes. We should have been out of sight but Tullamore drove on and the two teams in our group were in the county final. You look back on it and you are not as despondent. Bracknagh, 100%, were the better team. There was no complaints. The qualms we had were with ourselves and we dealt with that. We decided there and then we wouldn't go around moping.”

Pushed about Clara's descent, he said: “It was a big blow but another way of looking at it is are Clara as big a club as we think we are and people in Offaly think. I mean we have won six county titles, a county title every 25 years. Can we consider ourselves a big club? I mean who called it a rivalry between ourselves and Rhode. It is not a rivalry if they are winning 90% of matches. As a club we were humbled a bit but is it any harm when you think of it that way? I don't know if it would be. Those guys trained hard last year, no one took anything for granted and we took every match on its merits but are we really a big club. We wrote it down, we have thirty players or so playing in this town and there are two football teams, a hurling team and a soccer team. That is the reality of it. We have to compromise now. It is not a case of if you play soccer, stay away. We don't have the population for that. We have to organise our training sessions around compromising. Tonight we warmed up here and now we are going to play hurling. There is a county final in ten days but you deal with that. Tomorrow night, some lads will have soccer training. It is just the way it is. They are not there.”

It was suggested that a step back can sometimes serve a club well.

“It will only be a good lesson for us if we get promoted. You can turn around in 2 or 3 years time, and I would hope those young lads will be contesting for a senior championship in two or three years time, and say yes, that was a good thing. Now at the time, you don't want it to happen and it didn't feel good at all. We will certainly be drawing on that feeling on Sunday.”

There weren't big repercussions to relegation in the town. They had a post mortem in the club but he felt that supporters in general were understanding enough. “I wouldn't say was there anyone saying that is out of order to any degree. They are a knowledgeable group of supporters. There was no league and we used 26 players which is not ideal. That is a lot. If we win on Sunday, it wouldn't have been the worse thing in the world but we have to win.”

Asked about a future at senior football level without the side's elder statemen, Ross and Scott Brady and Thomas Deehan, Scanlon said that he doesn't look that far ahead. “Ross has been great this year, he seems to be getting better with every game and getting fitter. He had a couple of terrible injuries. Scott to be fair to him came back when he could have stepped away. He is great to those young lads as is Ross and Tommo. Tommo is playing great football at the moment. Are they getting on a bit? Yes but I saw Ciaran McManus dominating the game for Tubber last week, I saw Colm Quinn do it. It can be done in club football. You can't go on for ever but they could have easily walked away and they stayed.”

He has encouraged Clara to play an open, attacking style of football this year. “We want to play open, expansive football. Call it old fashioned if you want but if we are going to lose, let's play the way we want to and let it be exciting.”

He described their form as “up and down a little bit”, pointing out that Ballycumber gave them a tough game and praising Ferbane's second team for the way their second team performed. He pointed out that they trained very hard the week of the St Rynagh's game but got the win while Walsh Island couldn't afford to be down the suspended Colm Gavin and John Doyle. “We would have won by more but I am glad we didn't to be honest,” he said, saluting the display of Walsh Island goalkeeper, Ian Duffy.

He wasn't too perturbed about the goals they missed. “You can't be telling lads to take the shackles off, to fist them over the bar if you are one on one with the keeper. That is not the way we play. If we get a few chances against Tubber, we will certainly go for them. That is the way we play. We are a bit of a free spirit when it comes to attacking. We won't change our style. We play the way we play and if it is good enough, it is good enough.”

While surprised at the scale of Clara's win over Walsh Island, Tubber's huge win over Ballycumber really caught him. “Tubber were excellent. Their movement, their kicking into the forward line was exceptional. I was a little bit surprised at Ballycumber to be honest. It was a local derby. It is harder in Tullamore, sometimes you can't get near a lad because the pitch is so big. I was surprised but I was very impressed with Tubber all over the pitch.”

Now they find themselves facing familiar players in Tubber in the final. Tubber is just a couple of miles out the road from Clara and the players know each other well. “They were beaten in the first round and have just got better. I was fierce impressed with their forward line. Panda (Bernard Allen) is such a good forward. Ciaran McManus was exceptional, he was just pinging balls in. It was lovely to watch, they played great football. Realistically they could have put up what we did. We have our work cut out. A local derby, we know it will be tight and physical. “

He spoke glowingly about former Offaly footballer, Ciaran McManus who is still playing midfield for Tubber despite being in his mid 40s.

“It is great for the area. There is such a small distance between the clubs. It is great for Ciaran (McManus) as well. It was great to see him out there and it was great to see his reaction. He is a good lad. I will say this about him, Ciaran McManus could have went to any club in Dublin in his prime but he didn't. That is what I admire most about him. To be that loyal and Tubber would have been up and down but he never left them. When he was living in Dublin, he could have went anywhere.”

Clara have three players who won All-Ireland U-20 football medals this year, Ed Cullen, Cormac Delaney and Adam Kelly. He stated that it took them a while to come back to club football and settle in to a new system. “Not everyone has an All-Ireland medal and there aren't many in Offaly to tell you how to react to it. It wasn't from lack of work but they were so used to a system with Declan (Kelly). I went to a junior match in Ballinagar and Morgan Tynan and Adam Kelly were marking each other. It was like they were lost. They have settled in great now and it is great to have them. Cormac is such a great free taker.”