McGrath keen Corofin team leaves legacy to safeguard future of club

THE New Zealand All-Blacks rugby team have a saying – ‘Plant trees you’ll never see’. It’s a mantra the players embrace by discarding the pursuit of personal glory and, instead, replacing it with a relentless quest for excellence by the collective. For it is through this, winning teams are born.

It’s an ethos Corofin senior footballers, who this weekend chase the four-in-a-row, very much believe in and it is echoed by senior team vice-captain Ciaran McGrath. He maintains this is as much a duty of care of the players as it is down to the managements and officials.

“We want to leave more than just titles behind us,” states McGrath. “We want to leave a legacy that we helped create a club with a future down the line, a future for the club. We won’t always be in county finals – we know that – but it is important that we can always compete and to compete you need to bring through lads.

“So, you can’t let lads run their time, go by their sell-by date, and then try to bring through these lads. The time to bring them through is at 19 or 20 years of age and stay trying them and stay improving them and, look it, the young lads here are improving every time they go out and it is good to have them.”

Indeed, Corofin have always been about improvement, from play to play, game to game, championship to championship. 2016 has been no different. “Yeah, I think whatever has worked in previous years we try to keep that,” continues the 31-year-old defender.

“We are not afraid to change it up and try different things and if they don’t work out leave them behind and go back to what is working for you. The young lads play their part in that. The like of Kieran Molloy has broken into the team this year and has injected a bit of pace; Dylan Wall is a year older; and Dylan McHugh started against Carraroe at full-back and had a great game.

“So, we are just trying to create an environment where younger lads are coming through and can express themselves and enjoy playing a bit of football. So far, it is working for us and hopefully it will work on Sunday.”

It is, as Connacht Rugby Head Coach Pat Lam would say, all about ‘the process’ and Corofin, knowingly or unknowingly, have it down to a tee. Everything is meticulously planned – as evident by the number of coaches on the training ground working on the various facets of their game – and this goes back, in many respects, to the players taking ownership of their responsibilities and, of course, solid management structures. McGrath agrees.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.