Cappincur's management mix working well as they close in on SFC “B” glory

A MANAGEMENT mix with a difference is working very well for Cappincur as they close in on glory in the Senior “B” Football Championship.

Busy finalising preparations for Saturday's final against Clonbullogue, the manager is a Kilbeggan native living in the area, Mike Tormey but that is only a title and he shares responsibility with the other management members.

Tormey, Offaly senior football stalwart and midfield powerhouse Eoin Carroll and Darren Screeney, a Kilcormac native who transferred to Cappincur some years ago, form a triumvirate that bring their own areas of expertise to the table. Shane McGuinness is a selector – he is a Claremorris native living in Tullamore and teaching in Naas CBS.

Take Tormey for example. While he played football with Kilbeggan and won a junior football medal with them in 2012, rugby has been his game of choice. He has played All-Ireland League Division 2C with Tullamore for years, coached their womens' teams to success as well as managing/coaching mens' sides.

He went to boarding school in Wilson's Hospital in Westmeath, where rugby was the sporting game – while that school has a strong Church of Ireland ethos, Tormey is a Catholic himself. He knows the game inside out, understands all its intricacies and does not try to portray an in-depth knowledge of football and the way it is played.

Yet the game has always had an attraction for him. He enjoyed playing it and when he moved to Cappincur in 2016, joining the local club was the only option if he wished to become fully immersed in the community and get to know the locals. His partner, the mother of his children, Caoimhe Daly comes from a powerful GAA background. The wider Daly family and its many strands are entrenched in Cappincur GAA Club down the generations while Caoimhe's father Paul was a fantastic servant to them as a player and has continued that on in other roles.

A strong, powerful player Paul Daly was a lion hearted leader on the Cappincur side that won Intermediate and Senior “B” Football Championships in 1987 and 1991 – he had great strength and the sight of him charging at the ball, eyes on only one thing, could terrify an opponent but he was also a scrupulously clean player who played his football hard but very fair. Caoimhe's mother Anne was a Colgan, another family immersed in Cappincur GAA Club for decades, but apart from those ties, Mike Tormey wanted to become part of his new area.

Their garden backs onto Cappincur GAA field and he soon joined them, playing junior C football and other games in goals.

When Eoin Carroll asked him to come on board on the management team this year, it did not take him long to come back with a positive reply.

While Carroll's influence on things is obvious to most observers, Tormey spoke about the different roles they all play.

“Eoin does planning and myself and Darren Screeney, we run it, so we all work well together. Darren is from Kilcormac but has played junior football with Cappincur, he's a club man as well. He came on board originally as a selector but he is every bit as important as Eoin and myself, we're all on the one page, there are no titles, we all do what needs to be done. I'm down as the manager but we're all together.”

A second row in rugby, he started the game in Wilson's and joined the Tullamore club after finishing school at 18-19 years of age. His first game on the firsts team was in the All-Ireland League in Ards around 2013 and he got a bad leg break in his second season. He was told not to play sports again but eventually got back, captaining the side from his second row position.

He coached the Tullamore ladies rugby team during a successful season in 2013 and was the forwards coach two years ago when they reached four finals, winning a couple of them two years ago. “We would have found that disappointing that year as we reckoned we should have won all four of them,” Tormey reflected/..

He joined Cappincur GAA Club in 2016 as him and Caoimhe built their house. “Paul Daly was a big GAA man and Charlie Daly and all the Daly's and I was delighted to join them. I got to know all their (Caoimhe's) uncles, Jimmy Colgan, Noelie Colgan and them all through the football. It was the best thing I ever did, even though it is hard to leave your own club.”

He has enjoyed getting involved on the management side of things with Cappincur. He was with Vinny Henry two years ago, looking after warm-ups and that while he was a selector with Keith Ryan last year. His role has evolved this year.

“Then this year I got asked by Eoin and the committee approved it. We're doing it for the club and in fairness the club and committee have backed us in everything and got us whatever we needed. There is a good vibe around the place and good culture. We have the good facilities and gym and all that, so we are very happy with the committee as well with what they have done for us.

He candidly admits that he leaves the tactical and football side of things to Carroll and others.

“Yes, that's where I would be poorer in the systems of play and that and I'm learning that through Eoin and Darren. I would be good at the communication end of things and organising and the donkey work outside. That's why we work well together, we all have different things. Rugby would be very disciplined with the referee and we would be very good at communicating. “

Team talks are shared between Carroll, Screeney and him. “It's a mixture between the three of us. We know what we are doing before we go in. No one stands out or goes against each other. We know what we are saying, everything is planned and it works well together.”

They set a county final appearance as the target at the start of the year.

“Yeah. We took the league first and got to the final and we were disappointed to lose that one. Then championship, we had the goal of getting there, that was one of the goals, we had goals in between that as well, but yeah we are where we want to be and now we want to finish it.”

They have won all their games but are always searching for improvement.

“We've had poor games and good games. We've won games and not been happy but that's where we want to be. Lads are critical of themselves and they analyse themselves which is good. It's good to be coming out of games with a win and then being critical of yourselves, that's how we are learning.”

Walsh Island pushed them hard in the quarter-final and Cappincur were glad of that test.

“We never took them lightly but they came out all guns blazing. I was working in Iceland for that and wasn't at it, but we knew that from the start and that's how the management panel was good. Hugh Treacy and Pat O'Brien stepped in as well and that's a good thing about Cappincur, everyone pulls together. Walsh Island gave everything at us and we got over the line there.”

In the semi-final against Clara, Cappincur danced with disaster – they were the better team but went behind to an injury time goal before Jason Gethings got one at the other end to win it. Tormey could barely watch after Ed Cullen got Clara's goal.

“I didn't see the goal go in because I had my hands over my face because I couldn't believe what had just happened after dominating the second half and knowing we played poorly in the first half but we kept them to a draw, which was good because Clara are a strong team. We got over the line, we made our own luck after 17-18 phases. That's the heart they have built all year from the different games. We have never had a big win, every game has been tight. We have a good bench this year which is a big part of everything.”

He confirmed that they will be without forward Brian Norris, who has returned to Australia, for the final but Bill Carroll will be back from work in America.

“Yeah, we hope to be a full strength and that is what we are building to now. Brian Norris is gone back to Australia and that was known. He is a teacher in Australia.”

The GAA is everything in Cappincur and Tormey now knows what it means to locals.

“That's all they have. That win, you could see it if you were there, it was huge. Even Junior C games, and Junior C was a big part of it this year, we fielded two teams. We had 50 men put on the jersey this year. I have 64 names on a list that can play football for Cappincur. You have lads that are young. You have lads on that list that are working in England, P.J. Daly is in Australia, and he would be a big part of it this year if he was there. We have retired lads, Peter Daly came back to play Junior C. If we don't have Junior C in Cappincur, we don't have the numbers training and you can't put out a team like that. The last three years the club have helped us field a Junior C team and eight of those Junior Cs that trained all year round and just play, we still have Sam Brennan (Sam is in his 50s) there, they play the Junior C championship games and maybe the odd challenge game and happy to train and put pressure on the lads.”

He agreed that they are getting the best out of older players such as Ger Treacy and Enda Daly.

“Ger is doing both sports (he also hurls with Tullamore) again this year, and now unfortunately he is out of the hurling, but we have him for the rest of the season dedicated to football. Enda has thrived this year, he has really done it. He comes down from Dublin for training, he lives in Dublin, comes down on the train and cycles to training, he is very dedicated, put in all the gym work and you can see it in him.”

Clonbullogue's star player is Keith O'Neill but Tormey spoke about their all round scoring threat.

“They have four or five real good lads in that forward line, so we will do our best to get our match ups and get all that correct. Everyone knows about Bill, he is well able for it.””

With senior football set to go to ten teams next year, the losing finalist will also have the option of promotion but this doesn't come into the equation at all.

“No it wouldn't bother me. We just want to win next Saturday and will discuss that afterwards,” he concluded, thanking all sponsors for their support.