Safety is key for Claremorris upon Super League return
It was a season to remember last year for Claremorris as they won the Premier League and Tuohy Cup. Picture: Michael Donnelly
The fanfare around Claremorris winning the Premier League title last year and earning promotion straight back to the Super League after a disappointing relegation has faded in pre-season but it would be foolish to doubt them.
A prolonged search for a replacement for Paul Burke ended with Kevin Lally taking the job and Simon Collins jumping ship from Manulla as coach and in the relatively short space of time before the season starts, they will look to consolidate and take stock of what is available to them.
What is available is a strong starting team. Calvin Joyce is a highly-rated defender and the likes of Simon Butler and Ryan McLoughlin can be looked to for goals. Mark Maloney has returned to the club from K/K United and so too has Andrew Peters, once of Galway United.
It was a year to remember for Claremorris as they won a league and cup double on their way back to the Super League following relegation, .
“A great time for the club,” said JP Kilcourse. “Obviously it was fantastic. Great to see such a young team do that, bounce back straight away from the disappointment of getting relegated the year before. So to a league and cup double is always special.
“It's always spoken about how tough it can be for teams when they fall out of the Super League to bounce back up. I mean we've seen a lot of teams who have really struggled and once have been there for quite some time. So I think it was one of the biggest successes of last year keeping that core group of players who had got relegated and they decided to stay and get back into the Super League.
“We still have that core group of players. We've probably lost one or two. We hope to replace them. We will have replacements coming in so we will. The team is there, the core of a good team is there, obviously. We have good coaching set up in there with them.” A new manager in Kevin Lally is now in place but JP paid tribute to the work Paul Burke has done.
“Fair play to Paul now, it could have been very easy to throw in a towel, but he said he wanted to give it a year to right the wrongs of the previous year and get them back up there. Paul is doing great work down in Mervue United now. We wish him all the best.” JP knows a tough season is ahead and hopes the club can have some stability going forward.
“We know it's going to be tough. We know we're not making it easy for ourselves with all the uncertainty at the minute, but Super League is a ridiculously hard league. If you told us we'd finish mid-table this year and we'd bite your hand off. A year of stability would be just fantastic.”
