INTERVIEW: Shamrocks manager believes his side has learned from experiences of recent years

Shamrocks hurlers have endured a bit of a yo-yo existence over the last number of years, moving up and down the grades in Offaly hurling, and they will be very keen to start moving back up the ladder when they face Birr in Sunday's intermediate final in Rath.

They moved up the ranks when they won their second intermediate title in 2014 and played senior hurling at the top level for a couple of years. In 2018 they were back in Senior B and narrowly missed out on returning to the A grade when lost the final by three points to Ballinamere. They were among the favourites again for that title in 2019 but instead suffered relegation back to intermediate level. Expected to make an immediate return, they came a cropper in the semi-final last year, losing to Coolderry.

Now they are back in the final again and are aiming to make no mistakes this time. Manager Jimmy Conway believes his players have probably learned a lot from the experiences of the last couple of years and are well aware of what is needed now but he stresses that they will have to produce a performance on the day as "if you don't get a performance, you don't get a result and that's the bottom line".

Jimmy has been involved with the team for three of the last four seasons. He was there in 2018 when they reached the Senior B final but due to work and personal reasons he wasn't involved in 2019. He returned again in 2020 and has been there for the last two seasons.

He also wore the Shamrocks jersey with distinction for many years. "I suppose from a player's point of view I would have put a lot into hurling and there is nothing beats playing but being involved with the guys, managing and coaching, is probably second best to playing, to get that buzz and thrill out of it. But a great bunch of lads to be working with and I have to say they have really put their shoulder to the wheel and driven it on and once you have players on the field doing that, my side of things is easy and enjoyable," he said.

Overall Jimmy has been happy with the way the year has gone for his side. "It's been good. I'm happy enough with the progress we've made. I suppose compared to last year, losing the semi-final to Coolderry was a wake up call and I think the lads have reacted in the right way. We've got a couple of lads back hurling with us again this year and it's really driven it on for us. Overall I'm happy to be in the final but finals are there to be won."

Shamrocks have carried the favourites tag throughout the year but Jimmy said it hasn't put any extra pressure on them. "We're focused on the things we can control and what we control are our performances. We've been going by the motto all year that if we perform on the day we'll be there or thereabouts in the shake up, either at the final whistle in a game or the end of the championship. That's the way we have been working on it this year and it's worked to date so hopefully it will work one more time for us in the final."

Losing last year's semi-final was a blow but he said it probably gave them more focus this year. "There is no championship easily won, I don't care what grade you are at, and we found that out the hard way last year. In 2018 when I was involved with the lads we got to a Senior B final and the following year we were relegated, so there are very thin margins involved in it. We were relegated in 2019 and in the 2020 intermediate championship maybe we were too confident of winning it but we got our comeuppance in the county semi-final last year and lost to a Coolderry team who were full merit for their win and fully deserved it and there can be no question about that."

Now they face a Birr side who they already defeated in the group stage of the championship. "We played that Birr team in the last group game. It was a game where whoever won it was to top the group, the two of us were through before the ball was thrown in, but they are a good Birr team and I think the scoreboard on the day didn't do Birr justice. For 45 minutes of that game it was nip and tuck. We got a goal and we picked up a couple of frees then and sort of pulled away from them but the goal was the changing of the game that day and I think the lads know that. We pulled away from them in the end but look where Birr are now, they are back in playing us in a county final. They had a very good win against Carrig, a good Carrig team who probably along with ourselves were tipped all year as one of the favourites. They are going well and have a bit of momentum now so we have to be aware of that. They are probably getting wins, with all respects to them, on their heart and work rate and determination among other things, but they have fine hurlers as well and we saw that the day we played them and it will be about matching that and probably getting a bit extra out of our lads as well. I am pretty confident our lads know that as well. They know they are going into a final and they need a performance and if you don't get a performance, you don't get a result and that's the bottom line, no matter what grade you are playing."

Shamrocks have run up good tallies in their games to date and that has pleased Jimmy. "The satisfying thing from my point of view this year is that we are not overly reliant on the stronger players to a degree, we have a spread of scorers. Even if one lad has a dip in the game another lad is stepping up to the plate. It was evident in the semi-final when David O'Toole Greene took the game by storm in the second half and got a hat trick of goals."

Being a dual club can pose its difficulties but Jimmy was happy enough with the way things worked out in Shamrocks this year. "I worked very well with Keith Begley who was the senior football manager this year where we worked on a week on week off basis. When it was a hurling week we had the guys and when it was football they were with the footballers. We have a bit of depth in our squad where we would probably be pulling out of 17 or 18 lads who don't play football so our sessions didn't dip with regards to numbers and the lads have come back in the weeks we had them and just added to it."

He said that while it was disappointing for the club to lose the football quarter-final to Rhode, it did mean that he had the players full time after that. "We've got a lot of hurling in and the focus has switched to the hurling as that is all they have left for the season. There would be about 7-8 guys on the senior football team and with the junior footballers there is probably another 5-6 involved in some capacity so there is a bit of crossover. What I find in dual clubs is that your dual players are probably your stronger players and you would be relying on them to a degree, they would be the backbone of your team."

Some players who weren't involved last year are back in this year and that has strengthened Shamrocks. "Nigel Dunne has come back this year and committed to the hurling as well. He has been immense with us this year, he brings that professionalism and experience as well and I think some of the younger guys have fed off of that too. Daniel Heffernan was concentrating on football last year but he is back on board this year and those two lads in particular, their leadership qualities have driven us on and I think that has made a difference to us this year too."

They also have players who have experience of playing inter county with Offaly. "When the games are in the melting pot you have Nigel there who played many years with the footballers, I think he even played a couple of years with the hurlers at the start of the year, David O'Toole has experience there with the Offaly hurlers for the last few years, Padraig Cantwell was with the Offaly squad this year for the Christy Ring, so there is a bit of experience there, which is good and hopefully we can do it on the day," said Jimmy.

He said they picked up couple of knocks after the semi-final "but I think we will have a full bill of health this week getting ready for Sunday. They were only minor knocks, nothing serious, so hopefully it will be a full bill of health going into the next training sessions leading up to the final."

Jimmy is aware of the importance of the game to Shamrocks in helping them climb the ladder again. "Personally I think it is massive, it is huge. There is a lot of work going on underage in the club, there is good young lads coming through and even more lads coming on from minor this year to next year, taking the step up and I just think it is vital for ourselves to be up playing a higher level of hurling in the county and getting up to Senior B."

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