St Oliver Plunkett's aiming for one more big effort as they target provincial glory

Barring a replay, Sunday will see the end of a St Oliver Plunkett’s football championship season that began on Saturday, May 6.

The Ahiohill side, crowned county junior B champions in July with victory over Ballyphehane – they also won the hurling equivalent – qualified for the Munster club championship and have seen off Waterford side Erin’s Own and Kerry’s Lispole to reach the decider.

Tipperary club Shannon Rovers stand in their way in Ballyagran, Co. Limerick on Sunday at 2pm. Plunkett’s coach Alex Whooley - who won Munster and All-Ireland club IFC medals with Ilen Rovers - is full of praise for what the players have achieved since deciding to re-grade from junior A.

“It was the guys who made the decision to go junior B and from that came real focus – player-led, to be fair to them,” he says.

“The pre-season that they put in was astonishing. I’m adamant that some senior clubs wouldn’t have had the same commitment or training – there was nobody pulling out or shirking from it, that was hugely important.

“When you do that hard training as a group, that stands to you as the year goes on.

“Obviously, I came into the parish from a totally footballing club and it’s only when you’re in a dual club that you realise the challenges involved.

“In some clubs, it can be, ‘That’s the football side and that’s the hurling side,’ but the management teams and the committee and the players themselves were fantastic.

“The players wanted to be committed to both and from that came the way of managing it. There was a lot of communication, trying to make sure that the players were happy. To be honest, it was a coaching dream because you were getting a break on the hurling weeks!

“The players were fantastic – there was a period where they played nine weeks in a row across both codes. Having the base work done stood to them and there was great momentum being generated.

“I couldn’t commend them enough.”

In 2007, Plunkett’s also won the county JBFC and made it to the Munster final but lost out to Kerry side Cromane. The greenhorns of that side are the veterans now, which underlines the commitment to the cause.

“They had a brilliant generation of footballers and they were very close to winning a West Cork junior A at the time,” Whooley says.

“They had been in that junior B competition and won it all of those young lads are the older lads now. They’re critical to it, their families are the backbone of the club.

“You’re having to go back into a pre-season where you need to be very sharp.

“It has taken a lot of focus and commitment but the lads have been fantastic from the first week in January.

“You’ve come this far and you want to avail of it.”

Against Lispole last Sunday, Plunkett’s fell 2-2 to 0-0 behind but rallied well and won by 3-15 to 2-11.

Keeping cool heads was key, Whooley feels.

“The start wasn’t exactly what we wanted,” he says, “there’s no two ways about it.

“But, again, the team has been on the road a while now and there’s a lot of work done in training that you can fall back on.

“We’re not looking for individuals to pull us out of the fire, it’s a collective effort and they were confident in themselves and what they were about.

“We scored 3-15 on Sunday but the goals actually came at the end – we had actually pulled it back by just sticking to the gameplan and taking the points when they were available.

“We’ve had some great games and the standard has been very high. Our quarter-final, semi-final and final were all won by a point, which tells you everything.

“One-point wins are the worst losses but the best wins. There’s an honesty in the group and they work so hard for each other.

“If you don’t have that level of commitment, you’re not going to come out on the right side of those results.”

On Sunday, they will look to do that one more time.

“Shannon Rovers are there on merit, they’ve had good wins too,” Whooley says.

“Just because the Kerry champions are gone doesn’t mean it’s a foregone conclusion. They’re from the football part of Tipperary and they have former inter-county players and probably future ones, too.

“I must commend Castletown-Ballyagran as well. Not many clubs want to have game after game after game at this time of year.

“We’ll be up for it and so will they and it should be another good game. I have to commend our supporters as well – they travelled all over the county for us and up to Limerick three weekends in a row takes some commitment.

“It has been a real united effort all along.”

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