This article is from page 72 of the 2011-08-30 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 72 JPG
IT promises to be a busy season for Donie Garrihy as he juggles the roles of Chairman of the Clare District Soccer League and manager of Burren United.
And you suspect he wouldn’t have it any other way. Last season Garrihy guided Burren back to the Premier Division with automatic qualification from the first division.
An appearance in the Clare Cup final would have crowned a good season but Burren were edged out in the semi-finals by Bridge United B.
Garrihy believes the pain of that disappointment will spur his players on and is targeting a major trophy as the perfect way to celebrate Burren’s 21-year anniversary.
He says, “We went down 12 months ago and we came straight back up. It was a great sign of things maybe to come. I would feel we left a Clare Cup final behind us on top of automatic promotion. And we feel we left the cup behind us. I would’ve been fairly confident that’s for sure”
If Burren are to win some silverware then much will depend on the contribution of players who have enjoyed enormous success in another code.
Garrihy says, “We get great help from the boys in Kilmurry (Ibrickane). They are 100% behind us. They are winners. I think they bring that winning mentality. They bring their winning mentality into our environment, even though it’s a different code. It’s a different game. Them players in our camp, we are twice the team”.
In July, Garrihy, a ferry tour operator in Doolin, was elected as CDSL Chairman, beating off a strong challenge from former officer holder Jim Madden.
Garrihy, who has been involved as a player and coach with Burren for 20 years, intends to raise the profile of cup competitions in Clare.
He says, “I want to make the com- petitions like the Munster Junior Clare Area Finals, the League Cup, I want to make them worthwhile winning, to make them more high profile. I don’t want two teams.”
Garrihy is also proposing to abandon the Christmas break and play games through the festive season, weather permitting.
He explains, “I don’t want a three week break at Christmas. When you played football in the 80s and the 90s, we kept playing. There were massive crowds. People were around at Christmas. It’s not going to be in this year. We’re not going to take a three week break at Christmas”.
Garrihy says he also concerned that the reduction in player registration fees as voted through by clubs at July’s AGM, will halt development of the County Grounds.
He adds, “Even though the delegates took € 10,000 out of the Clare league account by voting the registration from € 40 to € 30. We have a 1000 players, that’s € 10,000 we’re after taking out of our account. Its going to be very hard to prepare the county teams they way we’d like to prepare them.”
He continues, “It is slowing up the progress of putting up lights on the county grounds to play mid-week games. Even though we saved somebody € 10 it has left a massive hole in our coffers. I think some of the delegates were shortsighted. But when you put in a motion you have to vote on it and that’s what happens”.