Flor eyes dream end to marathon season

FLOR O’Driscoll was due to be in Dublin on Monday, running his first marathon. A couple of weeks ago he cancelled. It was not quite a last-minute emergency but something came up, unexpected but welcome — oh, so very welcome.

In tandem with the training he was doing for that Dublin City Marathon, O’Driscoll was also training Ilen Rovers senior football team, his Ilen Rovers, the team he began playing over 20 years ago.

Six years ago he won a junior A county title with Ilen, four years ago they went on to win the intermediate.

Ah, but this year, this fairytale year; in the first round of the senior championship Ilen Rovers were well beaten by Nemo Rangers and their season looked doomed. Back in Flor’s day that would have been season over, but latterly in Cork there’s a backdoor for first-round losers and how Rovers have taken advantage.

Round by round, they have fought their way back. Was this expected? There isn’t a man, woman or child in the combined parishes of Baltimore, Rath, the islands (Cape Clear, Sherkin and Heir) and Aughadown who would say yes after that first-round loss. Yet here they are, in the Cork County Senior Football final this Sunday in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, against Nemo Rangers again, and thus Flor’s decision. For clubs as small as Ilen Rovers, county senior finals don’t come every year. That marathon can wait.

“I have more important things to be doing!” he laughs. “I stopped training after the Duhallow game (semi-final win) because I knew I wouldn’t be able to run. You must understand what this means — this week 19 years ago we were preparing for a junior B county final, which we lost by the way, so we’ve come a long way in a short time. The watershed year was in 1995, when we won our first ever county title. We won the Minor B then played on the junior team in ‘96, where we already had some great core players like Fachtna Collins, Jason Whooley, Chris Collins, and others. We won our first West Cork junior A that year.”

Flor was also part of that blend and even at 38, a fitness fanatic, looks like he could still play. “I AM still playing,” he confirms, “Junior A, but the players retired me from senior! ! There’s nothing like playing and I still love it. I got more fun from playing in the junior championship this year than I ever would out of management. It’s still great to be involved in this though. There are three selectors, Jason Whooley, who is still kind of playing with the juniors but training them also, Dominic Casey, who’s a player/selector, and myself, so we’re a very tight bunch. I’m thrilled to be involved; it would be great even if you were only in the stands but it’s even more special to be part of it.”

With nearly two-thirds of the panel in Cork much of their training is done elsewhere, in Cloughduv, in Randal Óg (Ballinacarriga). For Cloughduv they have to pay, which could be a burden on a small club — it’s not, as Flor explains. “The players pay €5 for every night of training there — the way they see it, it’s in their interests.”

It’s that kind of attitude that has Ilen Rovers where they are today, on the brink of writing a new chapter in their recent magnificent history.

“We’re under no illusions. I think if you were to compare ourselves and Nemo, you couldn’t have a bigger contrast. But there’s a hunger and we hope that carries us through.”