Dr Crokes expecting a ‘proper football’ contest

It has, in fact, been two months since the Crokes played a competitive game of ball that wasn’t blighted or blunted by packed defences and an opposition approach of containment, containment, and, well, further containment.

The contest in question was the 1-15 to 1-8 Munster quarter-final win at home to then reigning provincial champions Castlehaven on November 10. Thereafter, Pat O’Shea’s Crokes were held to nine points by Rathgormack in the semi-final and four points by Loughmore-Castleiney in a most frustrating opening half to the Munster final.

Neither fixture made any accommodation for expression. Neither fixture cared much for inventiveness, beyond picking 14-man locks.

Sunday, against Errigal Ciarán, will be different. That they are almost certain of. The sometimes lazy Ulster football stereotype has no place here. It does not apply. How could it when the forward unit in question is home to three Canavans.

“With some of the games you play, the challenge is the unknown factor,” explains Crokes selector Denis Coleman. “If you are playing a team you are more familiar with, it is easier to prepare for, whereas playing against Loughmore and Rathgormack, they were arguably tougher challenges because there was that unknown factor and you were playing against a team that may play football in a different way.

“Now, you could argue that when you are facing a side from Ulster you might face the same thing, but having looked at Errigal Ciarán, I don’t get that sense. I think it is going to be a proper football contest because they are very much an attacking team too.

“They have star quality up front, and their middle of the field is tried and tested at inter-county level too, so they certainly won’t be sitting back afraid of us. They’ll be going for broke, as well, which is great and augers for a great contest.”

For Coleman and the rest of the Crokes management, there are no reservations over the ease at which their players can slip back into the team’s default mode, even if it has been two months and a minute since they were last afforded the opportunity to do so.

“The bottom line is you plan to play in a particular way, but 10 minutes in it could take on a life of its own and you have got to be able to adapt.

“You may go out expecting something on Sunday and you might run into something completely different. The trick then for the players is to be able to adapt to those situations, and a huge amount of your training is developing that level of player intelligence where they can adapt to situations they weren’t expecting.”

A proper football contest, or not, Crokes aren’t coming up the road just to participate in a potential classic. Pat O’Shea certainly didn’t step back onto the sideline for such.

It’s been six years since the Lewis Road club stood an hour from Croke Park. It is 13 years since they faced Ulster opposition in an All-Ireland semi-final. On that occasion, and the same as the 2007 final, Crossmaglen had their number.

“The Ulster thing, I don’t know,” Coleman continues. “One of the things you can fall into a trap here of is spending too much time analysing opposition. We do a bit of it, but the controllable for us is getting our own guys physically and mentally ready for a huge challenge and then letting them loose and seeing how well they do.”

They’ll be let loose in Portlaoise with batteries fully recharged. The four-week pause in competitive action they exploited in tailored fashion.

“Basically, we were going all of August, September, October, November, and the very beginning of December. 13 games in total.

“At that stage, if someone says we’ll give you four weeks now before the next one, there is almost a sigh of relief.

“Now, we were together the Wednesday night after the Munster final because if you left it any longer, the players would be wondering why you were taking so much of a break.

“It wasn’t that you were out killing lads on the Wednesday night, it was just an opportunity to get the lads back together and refocus.

“Some guys needed a bit of rest and recuperation, whereas other guys were ready to go straight back into training.

“This time of year, you are managing a team of individuals from a physical point of view because different lads will have different stuff going on and you just have to try and get them at the same point at the end of the four weeks.”

They trained the Sunday before Christmas and went again on St Stephen’s Day afternoon.

There were no Christmas Day or January 1 morning get-togethers. They’re “allergic” to morning sessions down their patch of Killarney, preferring to have players and their bodies fully awake before they step onto the field.

“There is massive excitement in the club. That buzz around the place, you wouldn’t swap it for anything. We are really excited about the challenge that faces us on Sunday, and we can’t wait for it.”