Shinrone captain wants to experience more of that winning feeling

A FIERCE determination not to be one season wonders has permeated everything Shinrone have done this year and they have certainly shown their quality by returning to the Senior Hurling Championship final for a second successive year.

A sensational second half display saw them steamroll a shell shocked Kilcormac-Killoughey to claim their first title last year and Shinrone now face a renewal with them in next Sunday's decider in Birr.

This year's captain, Declan Cleary certainly got his appetite whetted for success last year and he recounted that very special feeling last week.

“It was the best feeling in the world. It was everything you dreamed of I suppose, all your dreams coming true. At the time it was hard to believe, but it started sinking in and we enjoyed it, but we’re reset and we’re focusing fully on this year again.”

He was asked about the importance of winning a second one.

“It would be huge. We’re not really thinking like that, we're just focusing on this year. I suppose there is that belief now that we’ve done it last year but we’re solely focusing on getting it over the line this year, we've one more step to take.”

Shinrone have demonstrated a new level of confidence and maturity this year, an ability to win games – a sense of belief that only comes from winning. Cleary agreed that Shinrone have been able to win games this year that they may not have won in the past.

“I suppose the results have proven that we’ve become so resilient there’s a great belief. There’s times in games we’ve been really tested but we stick to it and somehow we find a way to get it over the line.”

They were pushed to the brink by Coolderry and Seir Kieran in the first two games this year.

“Coolderry game a point, Clareen a point, Belmont we needed two late goals to see it out to the end. Ballinamere beat us in the group stage, Birr gave us an awful hard test, we just about got over the line and we had a tough day the last day with Ballinamere again, very tough day. So we’re learning each time, each game is tougher and tougher and we’re finding a way somehow, so there is an inner belief and confidence: don't panic, we'll find a way somehow. Please God we’ll do the same again.”

He agreed that they should have closed out their group game with Ballinamere and quarter-final against Birr, who forced them to extra time.

“I suppose the Birr game we should've seen it out, we didn't, we let Birr back in. Credit to them though they threw everything at us and they got back and took us to extra time. I suppose other years it could’ve slipped but we refocused, we reset, we didn't, panic we knew Birr probably had momentum going into that extra time but, like we've been saying, we have that little bit of resilience now and it's gotten us this far we just need to take that one more step.”

It is an amazing turnaround by a club who suffered some devastating defeats before last year. What would you attribute that to?

“Sticking at it, trying to do the right things, we've just plugged away at it. We always knew we were a top team when we performed and we really needed to stick at it and now we've built that little bit of resilience.”

Cleary is honoured by the captaincy but outside of that it is a very peripheral function.

“I don't think about it too much. Yes I’m captain, but we have over 30 leaders, every body is stepping up. We've seen that throughout the year, we've seen that last year in the county final. Every time we stepped out on the field training, there's lads stepping up. Every man in his own way is a leader. We've seen it in games with boys coming on, the subs are making a serious impact. It's as simple as that, every man is leading in some shape or form.

“Individually you're obviously going to think that it's great to be part of the first Shinrone team to get it over the line, but we've just carried each other. Push the lad beside you, he pushes you back. The old lads, the young lads, everything in between, push each other. We enjoyed last year but we've forgotten about that now we are focused on this year.”

He talked about Kilcormac-Killoughey.

“There's two teams playing each other again and we know Kilcormac are a fine fine side, we know they've lots of strong hurlers. Their Senior B’s won the other day, they have serious strength and depth. But we haven't thought about it too much. We just focus on ourselves getting the bodies right, getting the heads right. We've recovered from the Ballinamere game and were fully focused on ourselves really and getting our performance as best we can.”

Cleary was asked about not putting teams away when they were on the ropes.

“Yeah that's a bit of an issue for us during the year, we've got on top of teams but we've let them back in to games, but at the same time we didn't panic we kept our heads, sticking to the things we know, sticking to the game plan, nobody was getting carried away. There were no heads being dropped, we just are fully focused on the next ball, we don't get carried away thinking too far down the line.”

And the second half against Ballinamere you were probably able to produce a performance that was very close to your second half against Kilcormac/Killoughey last year?

“Yeah it probably was the first time all year where we've really kicked on in the second half. That's the same story, we didn't think about it, we just focused on every next ball. I suppose it was our best performance of the year, we built a bit of a lead for ourselves and we saw out the game without letting them back in.”