Greene hoping that Éire Óg blues are a thing of the past
THREE WISE MEN: The Éire Óg management team of Kevin Gallagher, Brendan Crawley, and Brendan Greene (manager) will be hoping to lead the club to the "Promised Land" in Kiltoom on Sunday next. Picture: Éire Óg GAA Club
Brendan Greene is tired of the hard luck stories — the unfortunate tales of the ones that got away.
No club has gone longer in County Roscommon without winning an adult football championship. In his eyes, it’s time to set the record straight and finally let Johnny Cox — uncle of current player Conor Cox and 1993 captain when Éire Óg beat St. Dominic’s in the intermediate final — to hand over the baton.
In Éire Óg's favour is the traditional narrative associated with the intermediate championship in County Roscommon — that you have to lose a few to win one. Oran and St. Dominic’s have lived to tell the tale over the years.
“There’s huge passion for football in the constituent republics of Gorthaganny, Loughlynn and Lisacul. Whether we have the ability or not, we’ll see.
“If you look at the teams that have won the intermediate championship over the years, they’ve been very competitive in Connacht. But there has always been a recipe for success that was based, some of the time, on failure. We’ve had enough of that recipe,” he stated.
When Pat Doory stepped down after two years at the helm, Greene’s success with Éire Óg/Michael Glaveys minor teams made him an obvious replacement. But, in his own words, he was merely trying to add to the building blocks that were already in place.
“The goal was to try and get as far as we could. There was a block of work done over a period of years, not just last year or the year before. Basically, this club has come from a position where they were near the Tansey Cup to be guaranteed senior league football next year. In the championship, we just haven’t crossed the line yet.
“Promotion from the (Division Two) league was a bit of a boost. But we didn’t win the final (against Tulsk), we were outclassed. But the main goal was promotion. Winning the actual O’Gara Cup wasn’t high on the agenda,” he explained.
Watching on from outside the fence in recent years, Greene, whose sons Jamesie and Brian are key players on the team — with the latter just back from injury — never viewed his arrival through the prism of his own management ability.
"We had a conversation about it. I had a little more free time than I had in the last couple of years. We took it on. I have good people with me. Some of them were there already, while myself and Brendan (Crawley) came in from the minor set-up.
“The younger lads are used to playing at a higher level from their success with Éire Óg/Michael Glaveys. There are arguments for and against the combinations. Obviously, some lads lose out because they don’t get playing time, others get to play at that higher level.
“It was a usual recombination anyway because there was a divorce (between both clubs) and a subsequent reunion, and those matters, as you’ll understand, are never easy. But everyone threw their weight behind it and worked at it as best we could right across the board,” he explained.
Éire Óg have been comfortable in the majority of their championship games, which indicates that they’re heading in the right direction. Greene would never take that perceived trajectory for granted, although having a player of Conor Cox’s calibre leading the forward division certainly helps.
“You’re always hoping that you see improvement but, sometimes, maybe after a training session, you do wonder is it there? You really don’t know until you cross the white lines.
“You might think there’s an incremental improvement, and then you have an off day in the championship. These things happen from time to time. Not everything goes right for you. But, overall, I would say that the team are on an upward curve.
“The perception is out there that if you can mark Conor Cox, there’s not much else there. On the other hand, there were plenty of games where we didn’t have him in the league, and we were still putting up big tallies.
“When he’s playing, he’s our free-taker, so invariably he’s going to post big scores. He’s a huge asset to us. It beggars belief that we wasn’t brought on for Roscommon in Portlaoise (against Cork). If there was a player in the county you’d look for to get a two-pointer with a few minutes remaining, you’d pick him.
“No matter what the grade of football is, a 50-metre free is a 50-metre free, especially if you are on your own and there’s no one marking you,” he remarked.
And what of Strokestown? They’re the favourites in many people’s eyes and the Éire Óg manager wasn’t going to disagree — publicly at least — with the general perception amongst the local GAA fraternity.
“It’s a huge challenge for us. We’re a small rural club. They’ve won a senior championship (in 2022) recently. As a Roscommon supporter being neutral in all this, I’d be wanting Strokestown to come out of the intermediate grade because they could win a Connacht or All-Ireland title. I’m sure it’s on their radar.
“Our sole ambition is to try and win the Jamesie Murray Cup. We haven’t met them too many times at any level because we end up in different groups all the time. They’re usually at home in the senior league and senior championship. We’re at the other end of the spectrum. It’s a daunting task, but we’ll have a go at it,” he concluded.
