McDermott embracing Monaleen challenge

HE’S been down this road before.

Double-jobbing on the provincial club and intercounty stages is not a new experience for Michéal McDermott. In fact he’s been quite successful at it.

At the end of the 2009 season McDermott helped steer Kilmurry-Ibrickane to a notable Munster club SFC triumph at the same time that he was beginning life as Clare senior football manager. Two years on he is still at the helm of the Banner county and is already getting things into place for their 2012 campaign. And on top of that he is embracing a new challenge with Limerick’s Monaleen as he oversees their preparations for tomorrow’s Munster Club SFC quarter-final with UCC.

He admits: “I have the experience previously of managing the two outfits and when you enjoy football as much as I do, then it’s easy to be out on the field a number of nights a week.

“It hasn’t become too hectic yet as the county set-up hasn’t taken off. We’ve back doing a few things with Clare over the last couple of weeks but for the next two months the players will be training on their own in the gym before we get back together. If Monaleen keep on winning it could become very busy but I’m not thinking that far ahead.”

It was only in the wake of Clare’s exit from the All-Ireland qualifiers last June that McDermott’s involvement in Monaleen’s preparations began to intensify.

“I would have known one of the guys involved in the Monaleen committee for a long time and we met up for a cup of coffee one day where he mentioned that their senior team were looking for someone to help out with the coaching. With Clare unfortunately finished up for the year at that stage, I’d plenty of time on my hands so I came on board.

“We were without a lot of our players for the summer as they were in the States and we were lucky to get out of the group stages in the Limerick championship as Galbally did us a huge favour. The season took off since then.”

The improvements in their form were reflected in their recent county final victory against Newcastle West. Last season when Monaleen emerged from Limerick, they were left disappointed by the defeat to Dr Crokes at the opening stage in Munster and are determined now to make amends.

“We’ve put in a huge effort over the last eight weeks and that culminated in the county final victory,” says McDermott. “Since then we have reassessed our season and we want to see if we can do well in Munster. I think last year when Monaleen won the county, it was the first in a number of years and maybe they didn’t put in as much work for the Munster campaign. But I’ve noticed a huge maturity about the players since the county final. They’ve knuckled down and put in the work that is warranted for Munster.”

Tomorrow the challenge is provided by the students of UCC, but it is natural to probe McDermott about the identity of the sides on the other side of the Munster championship draw as Kilmurry-Ibrickane are also on the hunt for provincial honours this year. Any thoughts of renewing acquaintances with his former players?

“There’s been a couple of texts from the lads over the last few weeks, joking about that,” laughs McDermott. “I went back to Quilty on the Monday night to have a little celebration with them after they won the Clare title. I’ve a lot of fond memories of my time there and still have a lot of good friends in that club. We’re both focusing on our respective sides of the draw. I’m certainly not looking beyond UCC, that’s our focus and it’s a huge challenge.”