Shrule/Glencorrib chase county final spot

THE fast ball and the dry sod are a corner-forward’s dream.
But this time of year is when the backs come into their element, particularly the more experienced ones like Shrule/Glencorrib’s Ronan Walsh.
Around this time of year, he says there’s a bit more ‘forgiveness’ in the wet greasy ball.
“In the summer the young lads would test you and the knees alright don’t like the hard ground,” the 41-year-old told The Mayo News ahead of Saturday's Mayo junior championship semi-final against Cill Chomáín in Westport (3.30pm).
Ronan is one of the few active club players to have played senior, intermediate and junior club championship in Mayo.  
Alongside the Mortimers, the Ronaldsons and the David ‘Roundy’ Geraghtys of this world, he soared to the precipice of senior championship glory in 2005 when a legendary Crossmolina team pipped them by a point in the decider.
A decade later, they sank to the Intermediate ranks before hitting rock-bottom when they dropped to junior in 2019.
The road from The Black River back to the middle-of-the-road has been a bumpy one, as the Mayo minor from 1999 can attest to.
“It’s hard to know. We’re still questioning that,” he chuckles when asked to reflect on the rise of fall of a proud club.
“It’s probably just a combination. We had a lot of people pull away at one time. We probably had a good crew of players and they all went off with work and commitments and we probably mightn’t have replenished the stock as well, because we were kind of pushing it for so long with that brigade.
“But maybe that’s one factor, you probably had a lot of people just move on at a certain time. “People just weren’t able to give the commitment to keep it going.
“A really good crop came through but we kind of hung around intermediate for a couple of years and we kind of just got caught. We went down to junior and it’s not easy get out.”
That same crop have been there-thereabouts in each of their three seasons in junior land, reaching the semi-finals on each occasion.
They are, as Ronan puts it, ‘completely changed’ from the team that flirted with a senior club title in the mid-2000s.
Gone are the likes of Conor Mortimer and Mark Ronaldson, in are the likes of Evan Cawley (the second-highest scorer in this year’s championship), Noel Sheridan, Ronan Ward, TJ Canavan and Brendan Ryan – who’ve all shown well so far this season.
But a few of the old warhorses like Ronan Walsh and ‘Roundy’ Geraghty are still sticking it out.
“It’s enjoyable. When you say ‘Roundy’, he’s still playing as well so there’s still one of two of the old brigade still hanging around. You don’t feel like a dinosaur completely,” says Ronan, before revealing what’s kept him going for 20-plus seasons.
“I suppose it’s a little bit of, with kids and family and work, escapism. Keeping fit, keeping active,” he explains.
“I wouldn’t be one to go off doing marathons and stuff, so I just play a bit of soccer and Gaelic football and keep active and try and keep doing a bit of gym work here and there. “That’s really it. I find it a break from the everyday stresses of work et cetera.”
Over a year on from the day where they ‘ran out of steam’ against Islandeady, Walsh maintains that Shrule/Glencorrib are ‘in a healthy place’ personnel-wise facing Cill Chomáin.
The Erris side only beat them in a semi-final as recently as 2021.
“We weren’t quite aware of how strong they were in championship,” recalls Ronan, who works as a project manager with CBE.
“We weren’t long down in junior. But they’ve proven they’re a quality side. We haven’t got to the final for the last few years for no reason. They’ve quality everywhere. There’s no doubt about it.”
But so do Shrule/Glencorrib, as they found out in their five-point win over Ardagh.
“It’s definitely giving us confidence that we can play to our potential. We have potential you know. It’s trying to get that performance consistently is the key.”