By Cian O'Connell

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These are special sporting days for Gaelic Football in Rosscarbery. After claiming a first ever Cork SFC title Carbery Rangers are now competing on the Munster stage.

Carbery have already defeated Monaleen from Limerick and face Waterford’s The Nire at Clonakilty on Sunday so important matches are arriving thick and fast.

For a club that hadn’t won a County Championship until the 2003 Junior crown was gleaned Carbery continue to progress impressively.

That era between 2003 and 2005 included some interesting forays into the Munster Junior and Intermediate Championships which current fitness trainer Maurice Moore recalls fondly. “Yeah, I would have played on teams in 2003, 2004, and 2005 so there was three years there when it was just an absolute rollercoaster,” Moore acknowledges.

“We have five or six players, who are on the current panel and team that were involved in that. Obviously they would have learned a lot from that experience, but it is quite a while ago and the level is up a lot since that aswell, but we enjoyed those three years.

“On top of winning the Junior and Intermediate four or five of the current players won with Carbery at Senior level aswell so that was a big learning curve for them.”

It was a sweet time for Carbery back then, confirming the potential that existed within the club when a highly competitive team was stitched together.

“What happened was there was a group of three or four players at my age group, then there was another three or four players from two years later and then two years later again, the likes of Kevin McMahon and Seamus Hayes - when you brought them altogether you had a serious team,” Moore states.

“That is exactly what happened us, we had four groups of players from different age groups that worked very well together.

“Certainly when I was growing up we were playing A, we were under 21 A and so on, the current minors are good too. It is important to be competing at that level because we had the option last year of going down to under 21 B, but as it turned out we competed very well with Ilen Rovers, who ended up getting to a County Under 21 Final. It is important to stay competing at a very high level because it brings the players on.”

Last month Carbery Rangers, managed by Ronan McCarthy, earned a Cork title with Moore adamant that they want to make further progress in the coming weeks and months. “It is our first time winning a County Senior so everything else now is a bonus,” Moore accepts.

“I suppose the players feet have come back down to earth with the game against Monaleen. It was a tough enough game for us coming back mentally after spending a couple of weeks getting used to the idea of being Cork Senior champions for the first team. In fairness the players have dealt with it very well, we have moved on with it since that.

“Absolutely we are focused on Sunday for the game against The Nire. They had a really comprehensive win themselves last Sunday, they've a quick turnaround which might be a good thing for them.

“They seem to be building up a head of steam, but our ambition is to get a victory and I think it should be a very competitive match in Clonakilty on Sunday. All roads lead to Clon.”

Moore, who stresses the role played by figures such as Michael Paul Hicks in Carbery’s development, is encouraged to see so many volunteers assisting with underage teams in the club now.

Coaching and physical preparation is an area that always interested Moore, who completed a Masters Degree in Stafford University two years ago. “I did a masters in Sports Science in Staffordshire University in Stoke,” Moore says.

“I'm a practising physical therapist so I've been involved with the club a lot as a physical therapist for a long time. Last year after the Nemo Rangers Semi-Final I just felt I really had to get involved with the coaching side of it because it is a passion of mine.

“I would have been involved with Newcestown Senior Footballers last year and Kilmacabea a few years before that. So it is a passion of mine, especially when it is your own club, it is something special.

“The experience in Staffordshire was brilliant, I spent a week over in Amsterdam, it was a great experience. We spent a while there working with Ajax's youth team, but it wasn't all Ajax either, we were working with their High Performance Olympic set-up so it really was eye opening.”

The course and stint in Amsterdam was hugely beneficial according to Moore. “It helped me an awful lot with the preparation of our own players with how we monitor them and maintain their fitness levels. You have a lot of different age profiles on the team, we have got a good blend of youth and experience. They all have to be treated differently.

“Back in 03 everybody was put in to do the same training, now it is different. You have to individualise the training, to monitor them, to push them at different levels because otherwise they will break down once the training becomes high intensity. I learned an awful lot with how they prepared their teams over in Ajax.

“The GAA is really developing, it is high performance. Senior club training now is what would have been inter-county maybe up to 10 years ago. The players are literally training full time.”

Former Cork player and selector McCarthy took charge of Carbery Rangers for the current campaign and has been a significant influence.

“This year Ronan McCarthy and myself came on board, I think initially the players were wondering because I'd like to think my approach is unique in that even with conditioning I wanted a ball involved.

“I think the players were wondering when were we going to be doing the hard weights and the hard circuits, but we tried to blend in our conditioning with the ball work and the skills training. We did our conditioning work and our practical work with regards to match situations together.

“It was a nice blend, by the end of it they were getting into it. I suppose when you are used to something over a longer period of time, the change you are wondering whether this is actually going to be successful for us.

“Probably over the last five or six years we have been getting to Semi-Finals and we got to a Final, but we weren't able to get over the line. I'd like to think what Ronan and myself brought has probably pushed it over the line which is nice.”

Micheal ‘Haulie’ O’Sullivan’s role in Carbery’s triumph will never be underestimated either with Moore also praising the efforts of selectors John Fitzpatrick, Robbie Ahern and Vincent Hegarty too. “I've soldiered with a lot of these guys, to see how they felt in the three or four minutes after the final whistle went after the County Final makes it all worthwhile.

“All the hard work we did through the year, the player monitoring, the fitness testing we have done. All of these guys, the players themselves have been heavily involved in the preparation.

“We've had players meetings during the year where they've said to us what they'd like to do. We looked at it and said maybe we could work that way.

“Rather than it being a dictator led system, it is the whole team including selectors. I think Robbie and Vince and John have been great aswell.

“They are three selectors that have been on board when Haulie O'Sullivan was coaching the last few years. They've brought that experience this year aswell with myself and Ronan which is great.”

Football will always matter deeply in west Cork with Carbery Rangers’ emergence offering an example of what can be achieved through sheer hard graft.