Mungret St Paul's aiming to create history in Limerick Senior Football Championship final

MAYO native John Hutton will be aiming to become the first Mungret St Paul's captain to lift the Limerick Senior Football Championship title.Hutton played for Mungret St Paul's in 2017 before returning to his home club Claremorris in county Mayo and then he returned to Mungret St Paul's in 2020.

“It's obviously a tough decision to leave your home club, life was in Limerick and I had to make the decision at some point. Mungret have been unbelievable to me, they have been so welcoming and you feel part of their own very quickly.There is a great community for a city club and they welcome everybody in,” John Hutton told Leader Sport.

Hutton also teaches sixth class in St Paul's NS, Dooradoyle and he said there is huge excitement building in the local primary school ahead of the county final.

“It's exciting, the kids in school are excited and are asking questions about it. I suppose, I will just try to remove myself from as much as the hype as possible. We will take it in and enjoy the week as well but we will try to stay focused on the job at hand for this weekend.”

The Mungret St Paul's captain feels the team really came of age last weekend in their semi-final victory over Adare.

“In the last two games really, from the Monaleen game and the Adare game we have showed characater. In the Monaleen game we were down to 12 men, we had three black cards, Monaleen got one black card, they had a two man advantage and we managed to cling on. I think that was huge show of character from the lads that were on the pitch.

“The same again against Adare, in the semi-final, to be three points down playing against Adare, it was just true character really that got us over the line.”

Hutton isn't surprised by the progress that Mungret St Paul's have made at senior level in the last two years.

“We always felt we were capable of competing, a little bit surprised that we have competed so well getting to a semi-final and now a final. I suppose with the quality players that we have and the development the young lads have made over the last year, we were expecting to push on this year.”

The Mungret St Paul's captain believes the quality of younger players coming through in the club has pushed them onto a new level.

“We have a cohort of players that came through together, you had the likes of Jack McCarthy, Oisin Moss, Frank Corcoran and Ciaran Uwatse. All those lads came through at the same time and really pushed the club onto the next level.”

Kevin O'Hagan and former Limerick footballer Pa Ranahan have also been crucial in guiding the club to this Sunday's county senior football final, according to Hutton.

“Pa is an amazing coach, he doesn't really leave any stone unturned, our training sessions are of huge quality, we have such variety in the training sessions.

“Kevin just brings pure passion for Mungret to the table. Obviously he has big knowledge of football as well, he brings serious organisation,” said Hutton.