'It's quite unique, it's special'

GAA news

For Ciaran Brady, it’s always been about the club. He may be entering his 10th season as a regular on the county side, having won minor and U21 Ulster medals before graduating to the seniors, but nothing compares to Arva.

Not being available due to county commitments gnaws at him; whenever possible, he swaps one blue and white jersey for another and in a dozen years at adult level with the St Patrick’s, he has been lucky enough to feature in six county finals, winning three.

An Ulster title, though, and an appearance at Croke Park? That’s something different entirely.

“It’s quite unique, it’s quite special. I’ve been in around the county for a long time and I haven’t had terribly long seasons with Arva, you go back to your club and it’s a short enough window, you’re only back to them and the inter-county season starts again,” Brady told the Anglo-Celt this week.

“This has just been spectacular, we’ve been on a seven, eight-month journey now and it’s going from one high to the next and it’s great to be facing into this Sunday to an All-Ireland final, heading up the Dublin Road.”

That trek began in the foothills of the county championship and now, they are at the summit – but they can’t plant their flag unless they beat Listowel Emmets. To date, each test has been passed.

“It’s ultimately credit to the 33-man panel and the management team we have in place for the preparation that’s been put into each game. There has been detailed preparation into each opposition. At the outset of the championship we knew we were going to meet some stern and tough tests.

“Knockbride was certainly one of them, that was our immediate and first goal, to win a Junior Championship. We knew we were going to have to beat them and thankfully we did in the county final. I suppose I put it down to the blend of the experience we have within the team and the youth and the freshness that’s come in this year.

“We had three minor players from last year that have seamlessly fitted into the team this year, that’s a credit to our underage structures that they were ready-made to come in and fit in because it’s not an easy task.

“Then we have a middle cohort group of players like Barry Donnelly and Danny Ellis, early to mid-20s, then we have the experience of the Morris brothers and my own brother there that have won Junior and Intermediate Championships before so I suppose it’s a blend of a lot of factors.

“For myself this year, I’m getting to that experienced end of the scale and you do notice a change in your preparation and outlook, you know the chances are few and far between.

“I remember sitting in a dressing-room having got to a junior final in my first and second year and Sean Donnelly, Barry’s father, saying you might think winning happens regularly… and at that stage I was winning with my college and St Joseph’s and the county minors, we were winning everywhere and I thought that was the case but I soon realised…. There was a gap in my 20s where that wasn’t the case.

“Winning teams prepare differently and you get a sense of when there’s a special time going to occur and I suppose we’re in the midst of that now with Arva.”

Finbar O’Reilly, from not far away in Lacken, has brought a meticulous level of preparation to the team.

“I had a bit of experience before with Finbar. He did a lot of coaching with Cavan and he was around the minor panels as well; He brings a huge level of preparation and attention to detail really. He studies other coaches and other teams to nearly a professional level and we’ve just been able to feed off that professionalism. We wanted to win this year, we knew it would take everything and he’s facilitated that in an extremely good manner and prepared us for it so a lot of credit has to go to him.

“You know a leader like Finbar, when he talks and everything is meaningful and truthful, you’re just able to buy into that. He told us what it was going to take to get here and we strove to do that. We trusted him and he trusted us that we were going to be able to get here.

“Him coming to Arva, he saw some potential. That was the first step, we knew when a manager of his experience was coming to us that he saw something in us and that gave the players a bit of confidence too, to know we could go to new levels.”

Brady has played at Croke Park “six or seven times” and is well-placed to assess it.

“In the days leading up to it, there’s no point in saying it’s a pitch like any other because the truth is, it’s not. If you went with that belief coming up to it and then you walked out and looked at this 83,000-seater stadium around you, you’re probably going to get nerves.

“You just have to embrace and trust your instincts of all you’ve done since you were a kid... You embrace the occasion, look around when you go out on the field and take it all in and then it’s down to business.

“I think 10 minutes into a game, all of that goes out the window and then it becomes just a normal field.

“It’s like a field in mid-June or July when the sun is shining, it is hard ground and allows for a much more free-flowing game. It suits pacey players and it’s probably suits more expansive football, the ball will travel quicker and ultimately players will travel quicker across the ground as well.

“We do have a lot of pace and we’ll be looking to utilise that but I’m sure Listowel will be looking forward to it, a Kerry team, don’t they love kicking the ball and whatever, I’m sure they’ll be rubbing their hands together knowing they’re getting a chance to showcase all their skills up in Croke Park. I’m sure it will be even in that regard.

“You’d maybe like an extra week of a break, it’s a very quick turnaround but we’ll try to do as much homework as we can on them. They’re obviously a Kerry team, love to kick the ball and play pure football and express themselves but that’s what we’ll be expecting.

“We have got this far concentrating on ourselves and we really need to knuckle down and concentrate on our strengths and hopefully we’ll bring them to the field on Sunday.”

Incredible

Asked what it would mean to climb the steps and receive the cup, he doesn’t hesitate.

“It would be incredible, we’re in uncharted territory at the minute, going in after winning the county final and the provincial final to the school on the Monday morning after, to see the smiles on the kids’ faces and to see the kids wearing Arva colours… It’s massive, it’s mad to see.

“The elder statespeople in the club, they’ve just gone bonkers to be honest. It’s so nice to see them, even our parents and aunts and uncles, it’s so nice to see what it means to them.

“I think they’ve the hardest job, any time I’ve been unfortunate to be injured and looking on from the sidelines, it’s a tense place to watch a game. I think we nearly have the easiest job because we can actually affect the game.

“10 minutes into the game in the heat of battle, elements like an All-Ireland final and Croke Park are probably going to go out the window for that middle part of the game. It is a long 60-plus minutes.

“Hopefully we can do ourselves proud next Sunday and everybody else from Arva proud.

“I’m sure they’ll go in with the tag of favourites and probably rightly so but we’ll be looking to give a good account of ourselves.

“We faced some stern tests so far, the Milltown team were very good at the weekend, Blackhill had previously won Ulster and we overcame that test. We’d just be hoping we can give a good account of ourselves.”