BY GER McCARTHY
ADDING the West Cork League Premier Division title to their Beamish Cup trophy was the icing on the cake for Clonakilty Soccer Club.
The final whistle had long sounded but Clonakilty Soccer club’s players, families and supporters were still out celebrating on the Darrara pitch following the title-clinching 2-2 draw.
By long-serving goalkeeper Iain O’Driscoll’s own admission, the depth of Clonakilty’s squad proved crucial on the final league Sunday of the campaign.
‘This is unbelievable,’ goalkeeper O’Driscoll admitted. ‘I know it sounds weird but this was bigger for me because we had already won the Beamish Cup. That was special but I didn’t expect to win a league title.
‘We have said it all season, our squad is unbelievable. There were lads on the bench that didn’t get a chance to play today. It has been like that all season. Sometimes at training, we had 23 or 24 lads.
‘That’s why we didn’t worry too much about the guys who missed today’s game. We knew we had the players to come in and do a job for us. In the past, we might have panicked but not today.
‘A league and cup double is special and not something we thought would happen. We said, win the Beamish Cup and everything after that will be the icing on the cake.’
Chris Collins has been one of Clonakilty’s most consistent performers throughout the season. Having suffered three Beamish Cup final defeats, winning two trophies made Sunday’s 2-2 title-clinching draw with Rangers all the sweeter.
‘It is special as, until today, no team in Clonakilty had ever won a West Cork League Premier title,’ Collins commented.
‘I have never had a feeling like that at the final whistle, it was unbelievable. When the two Clonakilty clubs joined together four or five years ago, we reached three Beamish Cup finals but lost them all. Winning the Beamish Cup was special this year because it proved we could defeat Drinagh.
‘When it got to 2-2 after 40 minutes, there was no way I thought that was how the game would finish! There were chances galore. We ground it out though and that was enough.’
Another long serving Clonakilty Soccer Club stalwart, Alan Murphy, paid tribute to previous champions Drinagh and acknowledged his side’s improvement.
‘Drinagh are a very good side,’ Murphy noted. ‘I think we are very well matched. I think we deserved it over the course of the whole season. Having John ‘Mousey’ Leahy in charge and Lorne (Edmead) coming in there as well this year was huge for us. Lorne would always have the cones out and get us playing different formations and styles.
‘Today, it was a different game because we couldn’t really pass the ball as much as we wanted to. Drinagh put a lot of pressure on us. Look, it was about getting a result. They came here to win so we wanted to keep the ball at the opposite end of the pitch.
‘I’ve been playing West Cork League soccer since I was 18 years old. I’m 34 now and we trudged through Division 2 and Division 1 for a long time. It is great to finally get a Premier Division title and win the Beamish Cup in the same season too.’
