“Never write the Blues off” – Johnny Clerkin targets Newtown Blues' 24th Louth senior football title

Newtown Blues senior football manager, Johnny Clerkin, admits he never expected to find himself preparing for a county final when he took charge of the Drogheda club earlier this season.

The Blues face St Mochtas in the Louth GAA Anchor Tours Senior Football Championship final on Sunday as they chase their first Joe Ward Cup since 2019.

Having lost last year's decider to Naomh Máirtín, the 23-time champions have another opportunity to add to their record haul, despite suffering relegation from Division One.

Clerkin, who previously guided the Louth minors to a Leinster final, had been enjoying a break from football before the opportunity arose.

He told the Dundalk Democrat, “I was enjoying the summer, and there wasn't any clashing, and there's three little ones at home that needed to be run here and run there. It was good to be around for that while I hadn't been around as much over the last few years before that.

“So then, ‘Smiley’ (Ronan Phillips) got sick here, and they were up with somebody, a pal of mine that's involved here and asked me what I think about it, and I talked about it, and we had a bit of a chat at the club here."

Challenge

Clerkin arrived with the Blues struggling through injuries and the absence of several county players, but saw the position as an opportunity to test himself.

“The club were very honest; they were very much up front where they were at, and could I help sort of stabilise where they were at and not scrap anything that went previously, but sort of just trying to move it on in sort of an upward direction.

“So this was sort of my first venture into senior club football on my own. I wouldn't say that I had a massive amount of experience behind me, so coming in to meet these lads who traditionally are really talented, really successful, playing finals often enough as such.”

Clerkin believes understanding his players is one of his greatest strengths, while young S&C coach Cormac Devlin plays an important role in the tactical side.

“I'm more into getting to know the player rather than coaching the player when it comes to skills and getting lads fit.

“But I'd be more into getting to know a fella, what makes a fella tick, and sort of understanding how he operates and what makes him play a good game or maybe why he's having an off game.

“There are layers to managing and coaching, I think. It's not just one layer anymore. Cormac would spend a lot of time with the tactics.

“I can struggle with numbers, struggle with patterns, but I don't struggle with knowing people and investing a bit of time with people and reading people and understanding lads.”

Tradition

Having faced the Blues throughout his playing career with Cooley Kickhams, Clerkin was already familiar with the club's reputation.

“If I’m being really honest, the Pats weren't my rivals; yes, they were rivals, parish rivals absolutely, but these lads here would have been for me; these lads here were the ones that got the blood flowing.

“Basically because they were so successful and they had such good footballers. And I'm here, and go back to that question, a chance for me to come in here and see how this club runs when I sat and thought about it.

“I said that's a bit of an opportunity there to see what makes them tick today. You hear lads say never write the Blues off in the championship, but why do you not write them off?

“There's talk about people that are maybe from the outside looking in, so for me, it's great to be in between the four walls and learning.”

Underdogs

Despite the Blues' championship record, Clerkin believes St Mochtas deserve considerable credit for reaching the final without injured All-Star Craig Lennon.

“I would imagine that the Mochtas are quite happy to prop us up as the favourites; hard to see it for me, we're after being relegated to Division 2, so why propose us to be favourites?

“I think they're really good. I think they're very well coached; they have really good weapons. I like the way they play, and this team didn’t just appear this year.

“This has been going on maybe two or three years, maybe even four, but it's definitely been going on.

“This is a project that has been building and building, and they're in a championship final without their best player, an All-Star, so you have to give these guys a lot of credit; they're really good.”

Experience

The return of the Blues' county players was important, although Clerkin admits their demanding inter-county campaign made things difficult.

“They needed rest, but the club was in trouble, so that wasn't easy on them, and there was definitely a thought doing the rounds that the Blues would be fine when the players come back, and that's all well and good; they’re coming back.

“But coming back to perform at a level to get you out of trouble is a lot different than coming back just to play for a football team.”

Clerkin also praised the influence of experienced players Ciarán Downey, Daire Nally and Emmet Carolan on the younger members of the squad.

“It's massive, and they are immersed in that. They probably don't realise the effect being involved with them lads is having, pure, just by being here and seeing the standards they are setting.

“They're playing county football because they live the life of good footballers. They want to be the best, and when you're excited, that rubs off on you; it has to rub off on you.”

Focus

Clerkin knows the disappointment of losing county finals, having experienced defeats with Cooley and the O'Raghallaighs during his playing career.

“Maybe 10 years ago, 15 years ago, when you were playing or finishing up, the holy grail is the Joe Ward medal when you put on a pair of football boots to go and play with the club.

“Unfortunately, that didn't happen when I was playing, but I played great teams. I have great memories from playing with Cooley in Joe Ward finals even though we were beaten.”

Having also suffered Leinster final disappointment with the Louth minors last year, Clerkin is determined to keep the focus on Sunday's performance rather than the occasion.

“So this year I genuinely came in to help out, not expecting to be here talking to lads about a championship final on Sunday week.

“I really am; it's all about the next game of football. It's just about getting the lads ready, going out playing the game of football and performing.

“These lads will know what it takes over the coming days on what to do; myself and Cormac, we do our best to give them the information, they'll put it into practice and, in fairness to them.

“They more than take the information on; they're very good at that sort of stuff. They've got a really good level of football IQ up here.”