Egan takes things game by game as Croan's seek quick return to intermediate ranks

It would be an insult to the coaching intelligence of the current St. Croan’s management team to suggest that the club has gone back to basics in an effort to emerge from the Junior A ranks at the first time of asking.

It is uncharted territory for the proud club but after being humbled by St. Michael’s in last year’s intermediate relegation final, it’s obvious that Croan’s looked inside its four walls to find solutions.

No surprise then that Vinnie Egan, Eamon Towey and Gerry “Tiger” Leech were summoned for duty, while Colin Sheridan and Paul Kelly were part of the management team under David Casey when Croan’s were crowned intermediate champions 11 years ago. Throw in John Kennedy, a highly respected and popular coach, and Croan’s had a strong base to launch a strong championship campaign which has, predictably, taken them all the way to the final.

“I was down at the game in Ballinameen when they played Michael’s. It was the club’s first time to be relegated to the junior ranks. Getting involved was something that popped into my head after that game. It’s not somewhere I feel the club should be.

“Plenty of good teams have been in junior — Oran and Glaveys come to mind — and it took them a while to get out of it. Regardless of whether you think you should be down there or not, you still have to put the work in, and even at that there are no guarantees,” highlighted manager Vinnie Egan.

“You have to take it game by game. It can’t be about winning a championship. You try and get over every game and take it from there,” he continued.

While Croan’s retain a strong cohort of experienced players that went all the way to the All-Ireland club final in 2015, younger players have come into the side and made their mark.

“You need the youth as much as the youth needs the experience. One is no good without the other.

“After we lost the All-Ireland final in 2015, a lot of the older crew decided that their time was up. Inexperienced lads had to learn the ropes themselves. People will look at us and say that we currently have a nice blend of youth and experience but that still guarantees you nothing,” he explained.

And what of Ballinameen who will stand in the opposition’s corner next Saturday when there is a Junior A championship on the line?

“Derek Connellan has done a great job with them. He’ll have them organised to counter our plans. We’re going to get nothing simple out of them. I’m expecting that it will be dog-eat-dog. Between injuries and everything else, we’ll just have to try and be organised as well as we can,” he concluded.