Greene: it’s time we delivered
The man who has coached the famed Waterford club to three county championships on the trot believes it is “high time” to deliver on the bigger stage. He insists the present team is as good as the club has had in many years, and good enough to go all the way this year if it plays to its potential.
“Three-in-a-row in the county has been great, but our sights remain firmly focused on winning that elusive All-Ireland title,” Greene said.
“We are a more mature team than last year and everything is set up for a major assault on it.”
First up, however, is Ahane in tomorrow’s first round of the Munster campaign at Walsh Park, and Greene isn’t looking beyond that game.
“It would be folly to do so”, he said, “because in the Limerick champions we are meeting a team with just as much going for them as ourselves and a team with as much potential too.”
Greene said that Ahane had shown outstanding grit and resilience to stave off Garryspillane’s challenge in the Limerick county final, with the Moran brothers and Clem Smith giving the team a formidable backbone.
“They won’t worry about coming to Walsh Park,” he said, “and really it will be no big advantage to us. We are under no illusions about the magnitude of the task we are facing.”
The Mount Sion coach, however, is confident that if they perform as they can that they will prevail.
“If not we will be out, it’s as simple as that,” he said.
The shock All-Ireland semi-final defeat against Dunloy of Antrim two years ago still rankles with Greene and everyone involved with Mount Sion.
“No disrespect to the Ulster champions, but we had done all the donkey work in coming out of Munster and it was a massive shock to the system to lose that semi-final,” he added.
Greene also accepts that their record in the club championship is “pretty poor” with just two provincial title wins over the years.
For tomorrow’s game Greene and his fellow selectors have made a number of positional and personnel changes from the county final line-up, with the big news being the demotion of former county star Brian Flannery, who loses his place at wing-back to U-21 player Kenny Stafford.
With Eoin McGrath ruled out because of a carry-over suspension following his dismissal in last year’s game against Patrickswell, Allstar Eoin Kelly is switched to midfield where he will partner McGrath’s brother Roy.
“Eoin is a huge loss, and perhaps we will only find out just how huge on the day,” Greene said.
In attack Michael Frisby, who lined out at full-forward in the county final victory over Ballygunner, has also been dropped and his place is taken by Greene’s son Brian, who moves from wing-forward.
Into the attack also come Fintan O’Shea, who made a major impact when introduced as a second-half sub against the Gunners, and Daniel Kelly, a brother of Eoin.
Tomorrow’s game is a repeat of 1998 when the clubs also met in the first round at Walsh Park with Mount Sion emerging six-point winners. “I’d settle for a repeat of that,” Greene said.
Coincidentally, Mount Sion then went on to lose the ’98 semi-final to St Joseph’s Doora-Barefield, who will play tomorrow’s winners in the penultimate round if they see off Kilmaley in their own county final.
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