Holistic approach is key says St Clare's joint manager Adam McBarron

Two years in the job in St Clare’s CS Manorhamilton and Adam McBarron is almost pinching himself as he and the school are looking forward to next Saturday’s Masita All-Ireland PPS Senior C Final against Ennistymon CBS in Tuam (1pm throw-in).

“Definitely looking forward to it now,” Donegal native Adam told the Observer, “It'll be a great day out for everybody, the whole community, school and the whole town - hopefully we can get a good bit of support out and see a massive turnout again.”

Coming from Donegal, safe to say that Adam is more than impressed by the ability of the players he is working with: “The talent is unbelievable. Some of the young fellas that have come through here now in the past two years are some of the best footballers that I've seen at an underage level. They've obviously had a lot of success with the club and it's just a credit to the hard work that is going from club level right through to the county level.”

Central to the St Clare’s approach to sports is an holistic insight into developing young men as well as young footballers: “The talent is definitely there and they're a great group of young men as well. There's a real holistic approach for a lot of these young players. 

“They're looked after as footballers, but you see them after games, giving everybody their time, signing jerseys for kids and things like that there, which is hard sometimes for younger players to grasp how important that these events are and how important, it is for the younger players to see things like that.”

Adam is quick to credit Shane Ward for not only his influence on the team but the influence the former Leitrim manager has had on his own coaching: “I finished college two years ago and this is my first post. I was very lucky - Shane kind of took me under his wing and he let me take the seniors last year. 

“Unfortunately,  we were eliminated in the group stages of the championship but this year, we have pushed on massively and it is great to have the opportunity of taking a senior team. It doesn't really happen straight away when you come into the school. So, very grateful to the school and to Shane as well.

“I wouldn't have known him personally but I knew of Shane from football circles and from the minute I came in, he's been more than supportive, even in a professional sense. But allowing me the opportunity to take teams and  having the  being exposed to high levels and seeing how he operates, it's great. 

“I've picked up so many different wee things from him and Shane is constantly challenging you, constantly asking for your input and advice. It's not a thing that he's trying to push the whole thing on himself, he obviously wants to hear what you have to offer as well.

“It's great to have my own voice and have my own opinions expressed and valued, which is great for a young teacher who wouldn't have had much coaching experience before that. It's something now that has definitely ignited a bit of a spark and has allowed me to develop that side as well.”

Ennistymon CBS are Saturday’s opponents but for  Adam , the emphasis will be very much on what St Clare's can do themselves: “We've looked at a couple of bits and pieces now. We haven't got to sit down properly yet. They beat Keady from Armagh, they'd be a very strong school at that age group.

“They managed to beat them by four points in the end. We're going to just have to sit down during the week and see what we are or what, how they've kind of performed the last lot of games. But I don't think we like to dwell too much on the opposition team. 

“Obviously we will give them the appropriate amount of respect but you can't dwell too much on the star players or strong teams. You have to look at the value that we bring and I think that if we can perform anyway, similar to the way we have so far this year, we'll not be too far away.”