‘The players drive a lot of this themselves’ | Jimmy Lee praises Newcastle West squad in leading by example

Newcastle West play their first Munster Senior Football Final in 35 years on Saturday when they face Kerry’s Kerins O Rahillys.

Twelve months on from their Munster semi-final heartbreak against Austin Stacks, Newcastle West have reached the decider of the competition which will be their first final appearance since 1987.

An incredible extra-time win over Tipperary’s Clonmel Commercials in the semi-final earned the Magpies their spot in Saturday’s decider, seven years after Clonmel knocked them out with a last gasp comeback.

But this season NCW have recorded a flawless record yet to be tarnished after eight games. Both wins in the Limerick SFC final and the Munster semi-final took extra-time but in the additional periods they have dominated on each occasion.

This recent turn of fortunes may be down to several factors, but manager Jimmy Lee believes the players are the ones responsible for the success. A ‘fear of losing’ hindered the players in the past but Lee has encouraged himself and his players to leave what’s done in the past and to continue looking forward.

As well as this, Lee has described the majority of club discussions as ‘player led’ and believes that his role is merely to get the players going initially while the players themselves ‘push it on’.

“A lot of it is around themselves and talking about it, you know identifying why we were, I suppose, struggling in some senses you know to get ahead of teams. You know, this fear of losing, you constantly have that on your shoulder and looking over your shoulder but I suppose what we want to do is to try and look forward and I suppose leave what’s behind you in the past.”

“Stephen made reference to it, the players drive a lot of this themselves, you know they would have leading up to this semi-final, they drove it. Myself and Stephen were in the car just driving it, they actually push it on, they had the discussions among themselves in between drills and stuff like that led by most of the players that are on here so I mean it is player led and there is no doubt in that, they’re an amazing bunch of young lads you know, that are driven to succeed.”

Behind the players on the pitch and the managers on the sideline, the club needs an executive board that believes in the ability of the club’s representatives and that’s exactly what Newcastle West have as their foundations.

Highlighting their success, which has been consecutive senior football titles in Limerick as well as reaching the knockout stages of the PIHC in successive seasons.

Lee believes these achievements highlight the direction the club is heading in which is a result of the hard work taking place behind the scenes.

And it’s ambition that drives them further. Despite their recent success, the club are still yet to complete the objective of having both teams playing at the senior grade which is their main aspiration for the seasons ahead.

There’s a lot of good foundations within the club, obviously like every other club there’s areas we could improve on and that the club executive are focused on and previous executives were focused on.”

“But look, just to sum it up, there’s a lot of good work going on but every club would tell you that, it’s success on the field that will kind of judge whether you’re going right or wrong. Like in terms of football, we won the county the last two years, hurling terms we’ve reached the finals of the Premier Intermediate the last two years, but the objectives would still be the same and it would be to get up to senior status in both of them and that would be the driving factor.”

But first, a Munster Senior Football Final lies ahead for Lee and co. as they prepare to face Kerins O’Rahilly’s this Saturday in Pairc Ui Rinn.

It’s only the second time in their rich history that they’ve reached this stage of the competition, with the first coming in 1987 which resulted in defeat against Nemo Rangers, the most decorated side in the competition’s history.

The length of time between their first and second final highlights the importance of Saturday’s clash to the Newcastle West faithful but Lee is adamant that the players take the game as it is, a sixty minute affair that they are more than used to. The club haven’t looked at the final as their first in 35 years and will refuse to do so to avoid letting the occasion get to them as they aim to become only the second Limerick club to conquer the Munster Senior Football Championship.

We really haven’t looked at it that way (first Munster Senior final since 1987), we’re taking it as another game. We haven’t gone into the detail that it’s this, that or the other thing, it’s another game on the championship journey and that’s the way we’re going to approach it, no different to how we’ve approached every other championship game this year, it’s just one step on the journey and that’s all it’ll ever be and depending on how long the journey will last, we’re not going to put any labels on it and I think I would’ve said the same about the county final them time.”

Newcastle West face Kerins O’Rahillys this Saturday at 7.30pm in Pairc Ui Rinn in the Senior Munster Club Football Championship Final.

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