Title or bust as Motherway aims to realise Cloyne dream

DECLAN MOTHERWAY will allow himself a victory jig at Páirc Uí Chaoimh tomorrow if Cloyne win the Cork County SHC title for the first time.

That’s if he has the energy.

But the Cloyne number four will remain as humble in victory as he has been dignified in defeat through his career. It’s a trait that has developed the character of the man who has been one of the stalwarts of the team since he first pulled on the red and black jersey all those years ago.

Regarded as one of the best defenders in the game at club level, Declan has experienced the highs and lows with Cloyne.

Motherway was desolate when favourites Cloyne fell to Na Piarsaigh in last year’s final.

“I was devastated when we lost, but time is a great healer and here we are back in the final again, determined to complete the job,” he said.

“If you had asked me would we make it back to the final in such quick time, I would have to be honest and say no. But we got together a couple of weeks after that and discussed where we went wrong, set out goals for ourselves for 2005, the principal one being to get to the final again.

“Perhaps there was a view among some of the players that getting to the final last year was as good as we were as a team. But I always felt there was more in the team, and after a very difficult campaign, we have made it back. However, that won’t be good enough this time. It’s the title or nothing.

“Obviously it’s going to be another huge task for us. The work has been put in so it’s only a question now of playing to our potential. If we do, then I’m confident we’ll have that cup in Cloyne on Sunday night.

“Blackrock in the first round was the ideal game for us. We knew deep down that we were a good team and this game afforded us the opportunity to prove it. The idea was to contest every game as if it were the final, and the manner in which we took them apart that night suggested this could be our year.

“The problem with the performance against Blackrock was we were expected to perform to that level in every game after that. So far we haven’t. We rode our luck against UCC in the semi-final.

“Newtown are going to be an entirely different team for us tomorrow. However, having beaten them in last year’s semi-final, we’ll have no fear.

“I know it’s a well-worn cliché but tomorrow’s final will, in my view, boil down to which team wants it most.”

Victory tomorrow could well see Declan Motherway finally call it a day. He threatened it once when Cloyne took the intermediate title in 1997, but kept chasing that elusive dream.