Shot at Connacht glory for proud Cloonfad community
The Cloonfad United management team of (l-r) Kurt Reinhardt, Ger Fagan, David Birmingham Nigel Payne and Stephen Ronane ahead of Saturday evening’s Connacht Junior Shield final against Ballymote Celtic.
Cloonfad United will have their first crack at provincial honours when they play Ballymote Celtic FC in the Connacht Men’s Shield final at Umbro (Milebush) Park, Castlebar, on Saturday evening (kick-off at 6 p.m.).
The Roscommon and District League side enter the game in excellent form, having lost just two of their last eight games and keeping five clean sheets in that period.
When head coach Kurt Reinhardt took up his role at the start of the season, however, it was much more than on-field results he was targeting.
“We really put on emphasis on bringing everyone in the community together. In the last 18 months, we’ve had four tragic deaths.
“Coming into this, we just reached out to everyone with a pair of boots and, in fairness, everyone has bought in,” outlined Reinhardt.
Cloonfad have a Connacht final, a league promotion play-off, and two cup semi-finals across the club’s first and second teams to contend with in the coming weeks. Depth will be needed, something returning players have given to Cloonfad United this season.
Indeed, the positive form of teams from the club from underage to the first team has been a boost for the village.
“For the younger lads, I ultimately think it’s beyond football. We’ve got a lot of people smiling around the village and surrounding townlands,” noted Reinhardt.
The resilience highlighted by Reinhardt alongside an expanded squad have culminated in United having their best run in the competition, going one better than they did two years ago after losing to Westport United in the semi-final.
In October of last year, United began their cup run against the Loughrea Rams where Rob Heneghan, who is looking forward to a Connacht final with the Roscommon senior footballers on Sunday, guided his side through to the next stage with a hat-trick.
Round Two saw this weekend’s finalists edge out Swinford before routine 4-1 and 5-1 victories came against Moyne Villa B and Ballisodare to tee up a semi-final clash with Galway Hibernians.
Against the Galway City-based side, Cloonfad produced a dominant first-half performance, led by a Jack Madden brace, to book their slot in the final with a 4-0 win.
Madden, Conor Flynn and Michael McGarry have been to the forefront in terms of scoring goals, while Shane O’Malley and Andy Glennon provide a solid foundation in defence.
Players like Madden and O’Malley played large parts in their GAA club sides’ (Eastern Gaels and Michael Glaveys respectively) deep championship runs in recent years, something Reinhardt acknowledges has bolstered the team during their cup run Cloonfad’s heavy fixture schedule has taken its toll through squad injuries according to the manager, but, as proven thus far this season, resilience is bountiful within the club.
“Cloonfad has always been a very proud parish and I think that ultimately shows in the glue per se of how the teams have come together over the years.
“Ballymote have run away with the Premier Division in Sligo and that combined with us being ravaged with injuries really puts it up to us, but we’re a proud parish and we’ll give it a bash,” Reinhardt concluded.
