Are townie clubs at a benefit or a loss?
Colm Parkinson played GAA with Portlaoise. He won a Leinster club title and six county senior titles with his club – the biggest town in Laois.
Something he felt he missed out on was that parish camaraderie, that connection between teammates that country clubs harness so well.
“In Portlaoise, there wasn’t that many fellas who I grew up with on the team, I might have went to school with them but that’s another thing you’d see with small village teams, they all pal around together when they’re younger. That’s not always the way with town teams,” said the GAA Hour Show host.
That’s the thing with town clubs. In underage, they often wallop the country clubs. But as the years go on, other interests regularly take hold of some of their best players. Not always, but sometimes.
Meanwhile, in the country, they’re making the most of the talent that they have. The group foster a tremendous togetherness and team-spirit that comes from their connection to each other.
They’ve grown up together, they’ve lost together, they’re so damn desperate to win together.
St. Loman’s are a town club based in Mullingar, Westmeath. They take on Moorefield, another town club based in Newbridge, Kildare in the Leinster final on Sunday.
Colm Parkinson loves John Heslin. We should all love John Heslin. https://t.co/GcC0fl6H07
— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) December 7, 2017
John Heslin spoke on The GAA Hour Show about Loman’s ability not to be sucked into that perceived town club mentality.
“Within the club, a lot of the volunteers have done an extraordinary job. For the last game (against Simonstown Gaels), a couple of volunteers, Alan Bracken and Tony Robinson and Lorcan there organised for all the young lads and girls to meet just outside the town. They paraded up the town with flags, scarves and headbands, the whole lot before the game. It was just class,” he said.
“Funnily enough, we have a good few lads from the country, I’m obviously a country lad myself. We’ve a few lads from out around Clonkill as well. So in terms of the team itself, it’s not really your typical town team,” added their star forward.
He did admit that town clubs do often struggle to keep everyone together and interested, which is shown by Lomans’ loss of 13 or 14 players from their 2013 county championship winning team.
“You’d have three or four from each age group. Then you’d have a gap, where a particular year, maybe the ’89 born fellas didn’t continue on, so there’s no-one representing them, so it is a bit of a mix in ours as well.
“What makes a good team, is the ability of them lads to mix together and mingle, whether they’re winning or losing, and to enjoy the craic together,” he added.
They seem to do that well.
An aspect that drives Loman’s on, aswell, is their rivalry with the other club in Mullingar – Mullingar Shamrocks.
Their midfielder Paul Sharry described it to us last week.
“The thing is we’re so close together that a lot of us are friends. There is rivalry there that would stem back years between the two clubs but they’re the best games to play.
“That just shows the kind of bite in those games. It’s the same in any county, you have your rivalries. It’s not really football that day, it’s more passion . They’re good games to play in,” said the Westmeath star.
Meanwhile, from a Moorefield perspective, Daryl Flynn told us last week about the buzz around Newbridge town in the build-up to the final.
The funny thing is, half of Newbridge will more than likely be shouting for Loman’s, with Sarsfields – the other club in Newbridge -Moorefield’s bitter rivals.
“It is good, yeah. There’s a good buzz around Newbridge. It’s probably split half and half, like Mullingar, I’d imagine. It’s a good rivalry, but it’s good banter as well, it’d keep you going too,” said the recently retired Kildare star.
Family and geography define who you play with. The rivalry is always there.
“My father played with Moorefield, so I’d no choice. That’s the way for most lads, whoever your family play with, you go with them.
“From the Liffey to the bank is the Sarsfields end. The bank up is more Moorefield. I grew up within the Sarsfields end of the town, so it depends.”
“I went to school with all them lads, too. There’s a big rivalry, but you’re all friends as well, so it’s good banter. You’d be slagging each other, and that pushes lads on. Us being successful will drive Sarsfields on next year. When they won the last two county titles, it drove us on,” he said.
