BY MATTHEW HURLEY
IT'S been a good start to the West Cork League season for the new Mizen Hob club, but getting the amalgamated set-up playing is a victory in itself.
The newly-formed club is made up of Mizen AFC and Ballydehob soccer clubs, who both played in the WCL Premier Division last season. Mizen Hob A now play in the Premier Division, while the B team lines out in the Championship. Joint player/managers Daniel O’Callaghan and Mark Cronin have started the new venture and season on the front foot. People like Pat Moylan and James Arnold have to take massive credit too.
‘It was a lack of numbers more than anything,’ Daniel O’Callaghan said, explaining why they started the new club.
‘Speaking from a Mizen perspective, we haven’t been able to train for about three or four years. Ballydehob are in a similar situation. Myself and Mark met up to have a chat about it.
‘It has really taken off, we have been training for two months, every Friday night. There’s 20 plus lads there and everyone seemed to buy into the whole thing.’
Getting lads onto the pitch was a massive incentive in beginning this project. The two clubs, Mizen AFC and Ballydehob, were in danger of dropping out of the West Cork League because of the sheer lack of numbers.
‘There would have been a lot of lads that would have had no soccer to look forward to at weekends. We had a meeting within our own club at the start of the year and got commitment from eight fellas,’ O’Callaghan said.
‘Every given weekend, you’re depending on another four or five that just can’t come. Out of the eight that give commitment, they can’t be there every weekend.
'Ballydehob are very similar. Once we started doing this, the whole thing took off and there are lads, including the B team, who wanted to get involved that never were before,' said O'Callaghan.
Both Mizen Hob A and B teams played in Goleen soccer pitch in a double header at the end of September. The B team lost 2-1 to Beara but the A team beat Clonakilty Town 3-2.
'People are all getting behind it. There was a crowd there that stayed for both games. In between the games, they'd go down for a pint and come back up. The reaction from people at the end of the A game, they were running onto the pitch. It was like we won a cup but we didn't,' he laughed.
The idea in starting the club is that Mizen Hob would alternate between Ballydehob and Goleen to play their home matches. However, given the facilities in Goleen, such as dressing rooms and floodlights, the team will play most of their home games in Mizen for now.
The main idea behind the B team, that plays in the Championship, is to give more players game time.
'That was half the reason we had to join up as well because we'd have no underage set-up. Everyone plays underage at Bunratty and sometimes those players don't come back to Mizen or Ballydehob,' O'Callaghan explained. 'Obviously the long-term aim is to push the B team players into the A team.'
A Mizen Hob ladies team has also been set-up. With Aisling O’Driscoll doing most of the work in starting that, at least 18 girls are now playing with the new team.
So, what are the newly amalgamated side's aspirations in the WCL this season?
'For the As, we'll be looking towards the top of the table. We have a strong team,’ O'Callaghan said.
'Players like Rohan Kennedy wouldn't be far off one of the best keepers in West Cork. Ger O'Callaghan was last year's league top scorer. Mark Cronin is one of the best players in the league. When you have players like that, you have to aim high towards the top.
‘We're not kidding ourselves either though and will have to let this whole thing gel,' O'Callaghan concluded.
