Floodlights kick in with a sudden boom. A gentle trickle of well-wrapped footballers make their way to the far goal. Children mingle and dash on the half-way line, not all play football; some have hurls, some playing soccer, most in awe.
Behind the town-end goal, a group of amused secondary school students move just briskly enough so that the one on crutches is lagging, hard-pressed to keep up.
On the side-line old men stand shoulder-to-to-shoulder, just close enough to the clubhouse door so that they can hear the kettle boil. The village is out tonight, because it’s Thursday, and the last training session prior to the lads big day out Sunday.
“Media lad is here!”
In today’s tight-lipped and contained era there isn’t a huge number of clubs who’d invite you to the last training prior to a Leinster semi-final. Rathnew were damn-near insistent. Club football is different like that.
"Sure you'll have a cuppa, won't you?"
Not different in the hyperbolic romanticised version peddled as the ultimate contrast to the prosperous inter-county game. Different in its abounding realism. Too often we hear why ‘this is what the GAA is all about.’ If anything that narrative diminishes reality. You can only take so much. After 40 years with Rathnew as a player, selector and now a manager, Harry Murphy doesn’t see it in those dreamy terms:
It is what it is. I live here. What else would you be doing like?
Rathnew landed the shock of the year when they dumped St. Vincent's out of the championship. It means for the first time in eight years a Dublin team won't contest the final:
We love a challenge in Rathnew, they don’t come much bigger than Vincent's, we were really looking forward to it. The lads were going well in training and we knew if we performed to our ability on the day, we’d have to be on top form but we knew if we delivered a performance, a full hour of that standard, we’d be in the hunt.
It all started with a hard-fought victory over Newtown Blues one Sunday. Rathnew knew then they'd face the winner of the Dublin final. Lucky for them, that game was set to be played the next day.
Vincent's saw off Ballymun that bank holiday Monday. In the stand were the two Murphys, father and daughter, nudging themselves giddy as they realised they would have nothing to fear:
Myself and my daughter went up, she is the PRO of the club, loves her football. We went up that evening and went in to Parnell Park and saw no big deal in it.
The only way of beating them was to stop them getting the ball because if they get on ball we are in trouble. I had a chat with the lads and we thought we’d push up on them, make it difficult because their keeper played a huge part in the win over Ballymun, with the short kick-outs. Very similar to the Dublin style of play.
They just play a short game. They're a good kick team, good at keeping ball and very accurate so if we let them get the play and sat back, let them come at us, there is no point. They’d just bate us. We said we’d go the other way, put it up to them and push on them and see if we can play a bit of football ourselves when we get the ball and luckily enough things went well on the day.
Murphy is grateful to the increasing coverage club football has gotten in recent times. After all, it helped him prepare:
We were lucky, because their game against St. Jude's was televised as well so we could have a look at them, they played the same sort of game all the time. Between us all we decided on the way we were going to approach it.
Murphy is just one of several die-hard club men directing their localities this Sunday. Pat O'Shea is at the helm for Dr. Crokes as they bid to secure yet another Munster Final. A Crokes player since the late 1980s, O'Shea secured an All-Ireland title in 1992 as a player. Last year he won one as a coach.
Out west, Castlebar Mitchels take on Corofin in the Connacht final. Mitchels have made two All-Ireland finals, one in 1994 and one in 2014. In 1994 Declan O’Reilly played for the side, he's now their co-manager. Over 25 years given to his club.
"C'mere til' I show you this."
Rathnew is your standard village club. Upon entry, you're obliged to pay homage to a framed collection of articles on their sole Leinster success, back in 2001. Six members of that squad survive. It includes Peter Dignam, their goalkeeper, who is also the club secretary. His father, Bobby, is the chairman.
My selectors, two selectors, Anthony Mernagh played on the 2001 team, PJ Connell played with us in my time. The physio in there, he’s one of us. A rathnew man, played with us. The lads inside are all Rathnew. It’s a club. That’s our club. The supporters too. It’s not Bobby Dignam's club, it's not me, Harry Murphy’s club, it’s the village club.
Everyone backs us and gets behind us, it’s the centre of the village. It brings us all together. The same as every village in Ireland sure. Their football team is their team, it’s central to the community, this is no different.
Murphy's Rathnew take on Kildare's Moorefield on Sunday. They are coached by Ross Galvin, in his first year at the helm. Glavin played midfield for Moorefield before that. His partner back then, Daryl Flynn, is captain now.
Harry Murphy is eagerly anticipating pitting his wits against Glavin. His team have a job to do the day before though:
There is a wedding on Saturday, one of the lads is getting married, Stephen Byrne. His wife won’t be too happy because he’ll be leaving for Aughrim Sunday morning. All the players will be sitting around all day and not being able to get a drink. Sure, there'll be plenty of weddings to go to!
"Shite, I thought we'd more biscuits."
Murphy had a brief break from the club scene when he took the Wicklow footballers for three years. The slow encroachment of professionalism is a grave concern for him - "We'd want to get back down that hill a bit." He enjoys the leeway in the club game. It is something he tries to extend to his players too.
I totally understand when lads are working. When they are acting the eejit, that’s a different matter! If the lads are working or they are having a hard time, or one of the lad's kids is sick, you have to be human as well. It’s not the be all and end all. You'd like to think it is, but it’s not really.
We’ve our amateur sport and you have to have a bit of give, I’ve never imposed a drink ban on them. If you get an oul' win under you’re belt you should be entitled to celebrate with your friends and family, and enjoy your win. There’s never been any lengthy drink bans or anything like that. We appreciate what they're doing. They are a group of lads that are doing everything in their power for the club.
In the other Semi-Final, Colm O'Rourke's Simonstown Gaels take on Luke Dempsey's St. Lomans. Dempsey has won three county titles in a row with Loman's, before that he won two with Moorefield. Five county titles in a row. Captained by Westmeath star John Heslin, Lomans are favourites for the Leinster crown now, despite the fact they are yet to win one.
Maybe the club championship’s allure is in its authenticity. A native experience that someone feels deeply personal yet exists as nationally relatable. For the participants the delight is twofold. You get to see your town win and sometimes help them do it. At least Harry Murphy sees it that way:
I’m very lucky, I get two bites at the cherry. As a manager to lead the lads out and have them as fit as possible, if you look at that. Also, as a Rathnew supporter and a Rathnew man to see your village being represented by the lads and winning. If I wasn’t the manager I’d still be jumping up and down on the side-line as a Rathnew football supporter. I’m double happy at this.
Anyone in this game trying to prepare a group of lads to get them out on a field gets a massive sense of pride to see them reaching their potential and doing what you feel they are capable of doing. Once they achieve and you have an oul’ hug after a match they appreciate the advice you’ve given them. No matter what the lads will remember the last win for the rest of their careers like. To be helping lads achieve those ambitions, it’s always a great sense of pride.
I’m not saying it's more for me than anyone else, there's men all over the country representing their clubs and getting their clubs ready.
Sure, isn't that what it is all about.
