Clyda Rovers coach Shane Ronayne wants his players to relish Knocknagree test

Shane Ronayne feels the new football rules are bringing the best out of coaches.

The former Cork ladies football boss is involved with the Clyda Rovers management team this season as they look to impress in the McCarthy Insurance Group SAFC.

The Mourneabbey men have won promotion from the Division 3 league this year and won their opening championship group game a month ago against Fermoy.

“It was daunting at the start when you looked at all the rule changes,” Ronayne said.

“Nearly every team was playing the same way for the last number of years. You could use the same kind of stuff and it was safe in what you were doing. Now, you have to challenge yourself as a coach.

“It has been very enjoyable to come up with new ideas. It has given great freedom and scope to come up with different plans and try different things out like tactics and so on.

“Once I got into the finer detail of the new rules and sat down and sorted out what I wanted to do with Clyda Rovers at the start of the year, it was very exciting. Training sessions are exciting now and the lads are enjoying it. Results help that too and we are delighted with how we are doing.

“Training had been very methodical and you could do it with your eyes closed. Now, you have to constantly come up with new ideas to try and win games.

“Teams are coming up with different strategies now to try and gain the upper hand with the new rules. They have worked very well and the referees are doing well too.” 

Ronayne took over as coach of a Clyda Rovers team that suffered relegation from Division 2 of the league last year and also had to beat Kiskeam in a relegation play-off to remain a Senior A club.

“The lads have responded brilliantly to what we are trying to implement,” he says.

“They wanted to have a strong league campaign, we have achieved that by gaining promotion. We suffered a very bad loss second day out, conceding five goals to Iveleary, but the only game we have lost since was the league final against the same opposition.

“The players are ambitious. One thing I was surprised with when I came in was how young the players are.” 

Clyda Rovers face championship favourites Knocknagree in their second Group 2 game on Sunday in Newmarket at 4pm. It will be a good indicator as to how far Clyda Rovers have come in 12 months.

They lost to this weekend’s opposition on a scoreline of 5-17 to 0-14 last August.

“We were delighted to beat Fermoy in the first game, so the pressure is off us to a certain extent. I am not blowing up Knocknagree by saying they are the favourites for the county, everyone knows they are.

“They have a fantastic group of players. John Fintan Daly is one of the best coaches in Cork if not further afield.

“From our point of view, the most important thing is that we are competitive. It will be difficult as it will be a step up in class.”