The time for talking is over.
Ballyboden St Endas have the chance to round off an incredible 2015 for football in Dublin if they lift next Sunday’s AIB Leinster senior football title against Portlaoise.
The Rathfarnham side are just 60 minutes away from provincial glory, exactly 20 years since their very first Dublin county senior title.
A key player in their triumphs, so far this campaign, is Michael Darragh Macauley, who has powered his side past the challenges of St Patrick’s and St Loman’s in the Leinster championship.
Ahead of the game in Tullamore this Sunday, at 2pm, SportsJOE caught up with the DJ now turned teacher to chat about the build up in the tight-knit community, the differences between Stephen Cluxton and clubmate Paul Durcan and why he feels the match is very much like a clash of two heavyweights.
How does it feel to be an elder statesman of a team at 29?
“I’m not going to put myself in the auld fella group just yet, I’ve another year to go I reckon, but the likes of the Conal Keaney, Stephen Hiney and Andrew Kearns, who’ve been around for a long time, and have seen it all before.
It’s impossible to win a championship with too much experience or too much youth. You need that balance and I think that’s what we had in ’09 when we won it and I think that’s what we have again now.”
What are the lessons you are taking from 2009’s club campaign into this year?
“It is a wake-up call. Sometimes, people expect a Dublin team to walk through Leinster. You look at Kilmacud, Ballymun and St Vincent’s, they’ve done very well for themselves in Leinster and the All-Ireland series, but we didn’t do that well in ’09 and we got a rude awakening. That stuck with us, it’s not easy to win the Dublin championship so you have to take every advantage in Leinster when you can.
What’s the atmosphere like around the club and supporters at the moment?
“There’s a huge hype around Rathfarnham and Ballyboden, it’s brilliant to see. If you were going down the Firhouse Road, there’s flags as far as the eye can see and posters on every wall.
In terms of the super club thing, everyone bar two lads have come all the way through the academy and have been looking forward to playing for the seniors for a long time.
But we only have the three Dublin championships, so this is completely unprecedented territory for us, being in a Leinster final. Obviously, Portlaoise are very experienced when it comes Leinster, I think Portlaoise are Wladimir Klitschko now and we are kind of like Tyson Fury coming into this. But, if you look at last weekend, sometimes Fury can beat the Klitschko. Obviously that’s what we’re hoping for.”
Is it hard for a club to get the credit when it’s known more for its hurling?
“We’ve been called a hurling club for years. The Dublin chairman came out to us and gave us a speech after we won the county championship this year and the first thing he said was ‘I thought this was a hurling club’. He said he had his speech planned for going to St Vincent’s that night, so that didn’t go down to well.
“We have about five dual players and they give everything to the hurlers and when they’re finished they give everything to us as well. Fair play to those lads, they put in a crazy amount of hours, the weeks we’re getting breaks they’re playing 60 minutes of a championship game and it’s not easy on the body.”
What’s it like to have Paul Durcan firing ball out to you compared to Stephen Cluxton?
“The two lads are at the top of their game. I probably underappreciated Paul until I played with him. I suppose it’s only when he’s nailing kickouts into your hands from 60 yards away that you really appreciate him, he’s top class.
I’m sure if him and Stephen were in goals together they’d give each other some run for their money. Paul’s top class and sure nothing needs to be said about Stephen Cluxton, it’s all been said before. He’s as good as it gets.
Ballyboden has benefited hugely from Paul being involved, he’s been a huge addition to us.”
2015 Leinster senior club football final: Portlaoise v Ballyboden/St Enda’s 2 00 PM O Connor Park, Tullamore
