At the start of the season Barry Mulrone would have been hoping to be taking to the pitch as a player this Saturday night for the Intermediate Championship final – but instead injury has meant that he will be on the sideline, having taken up a role as part of the Devenish management team along with his father, Sylvester, and good friend Marty O’Brien.

Mulrone admits that it is frustrating not to be playing as he had been going well before disaster struck.

“I had myself in pretty good shape and going relatively well during the Club Players Competition, and I felt I was going well in the early league games, but then against Tempo – and it is the way with these type of things, it was just innocuous – I went to plant my foot and the knee buckled.

‘Frustrating’

“I was hoping that it was only going to be a sprain or something because I walked off the pitch, but I got the scan done and the physio rang me a couple of days after and told me it was a ruptured ACL, so that was me, unfortunately. It was frustrating,” he said.

And he had high hopes for what the season might bring for Devenish.

“It was disheartening, because it was the first time since we got to the championship final that we have had a real good crop of players all at once; you had a full squad of boys and you weren’t having to delve into your reserves that much.

“I felt that there was something that could be done this year – and don’t get me wrong, it is being done as we secured our Division One status, which we wanted to do and now we are in the Intermediate final – and I suppose from my point of view, I wanted to be playing.

“But look, the main thing is the team is doing well, that’s what matters,” he said.

As one door closed though, another opened, and although he was unsure about getting involved in the coaching end of things, Mulrone admits that he is thoroughly enjoying it.

“If I’m being honest I didn’t think that I would enjoy it at all, because I have always been a player and I hold my hands up that I have done very little coaching in the club.

“After the injury I hadn’t planned on doing anything, I intended just to play a bit of golf and maybe just go to the matches, but whenever James Glancy left us to join up with Andy Moran at Leitrim, the club and dad and Marty asked me would I come in and help as a third voice in the group, and it has been brilliant.

“I didn’t think I was going to enjoy it as much as I have, to be honest!

“I suppose you only enjoy it as much as the players are taking it in, because if they aren’t being fully involved, then it would be quite difficult, but the boys have been great. They have bought into what we are trying to do, and Marty and dad have just let me at it in terms of taking training,” he said.

Mulrone acknowledges that Devenish are going through something of a transition, but he does feel that there is a good blend in the squad.

“I think that from the championship final in 2017 there was only four or five who started against Belcoo, so that is a massive turnover.

‘We have a good mix’

“We do though have a good mix. You have the young lads coming through, and then there is a group in their mid-20s who are probably still novice enough at Senior level.

“They have been around a while, but I don’t think they have been involved in big games for us, because we haven’t been in those positions over the last four or five years. Then there are a few of the older lads who have been there,” he commented.

And he is delighted that these younger lads now have the opportunity to play in a county final.

“I’ve been involved with the Seniors for 15 or 16 years now, and this is only my second county final, so it’s great that they have this chance to play in one and it is a testament to the work they have put in that they are there,” he added.

Silverware and a return to the Senior Championship is the prize on Saturday night, and waiting in that final is an opposition who needs no introduction to the Devenish players: neighbours Erne Gaels.

“All of it is massive before you take in the local element between Belleek and ourselves and people in the parish are getting excited, it is big for people,” Mulrone added.

Expecting a tight tussle

And he is expecting a tight tussle when the ball is thrown in at Brewster Park.

“This will be the fourth time we will have played Belleek and the other games have been tight, and this is likely to be no different.

“It hasn’t been massive scoring between us and I think it will be fairly cagey. We know each other inside out; there won’t be anything new or revolutionary in terms of tactics, but I believe it will probably come down to the last 10 or 12 minutes and who has it in the legs to get over the line.

“I think it will be nip and tuck, but a game that I think will be very good viewing,” he said.