Morgan Fuels Down SFC semi-final: Burren v Glenn (Friday, Pairc Esler, 7.30pm)
THERE and then, Stevie Clarke knew the moment had arrived. Thirty-nine years of age, blood, sweat and tears given to the Glenn cause for the guts of two decades, only for reality to strike in seconds.
“Last year, Carryduff in Downpatrick,” he recalls, “I went to show John McGeough the line, hoping he would go that way and take me on.”
McGeough did exactly what Clarke wanted, those years of experience and know-how claiming another victim in the heat of battle. Except…
“He just ran away from me.
“At that moment, I was like ‘I’m done with this’. I wasn’t able to impact games the way I wanted to, so that was me.”
Twelve months on, Clarke is wearing the bainisteoir’s bib as underdogs Glenn gear up for Friday night’s Down SFC semi-final with big guns Burren.
Having been relegated to Division Three, few would have expected Glenn’s name to be in the hat for the final four but, after a deserved quarter-final victory over Mayobridge, they are there on merit.
READ MORE
- Glenn glide past Mayobridge and into the last four of Down SFC
- Burren find their spark to see off Ballyholland
Yet, in the advent of the split season, league form can often paint a false picture. Largely left without goalkeeper John O’Hare, forward Shay Millar and the experienced Niall McParland due to county commitments, there was always the expectation that plenty more was to come.
Clarke has learned a fair bit about navigating the choppy waters of championship through the years, and even more about the resilience required to face down adversity when its head is reared.
The main picture on this page shows a beaming Clarke clasping the Down intermediate championship trophy after Glenn’s 2019 victory over Newry Shamrocks, joy unrestrained alongside fellow joint captain Conor Cranny.
What it doesn’t show is the painstaking hours of recovery and soul-searching that brought him there.
The previous year, Clarke suffered cruciate ligament damage in Glenn’s final championship outing, prompting initial fears that the curtain could be coming down on his career.
But, in his eagerness to get back, he pushed too hard. Went too soon. Having played in challenge games five months after his knee gave way, it went again six games into Glenn’s league campaign.
“The same knee… I was totally disconsolate.
“This time I wasn’t going for surgery, I was peeved off with it, then to be fair Tony Bagnall – manager when we won the intermediate - was very good, he asked me to come in and give a hand with the management team, which he didn’t have to do.”
Being so close to the action, the fire began to burn again.
Clarke had always been a gym bunny and, after a conversation with Armagh’s Jemar Hall, he found himself picking the brains of Orchard boss Kieran McGeeney about the best way to keep his playing days going.
“Kieran had done both cruciates but never got surgery, he played on. He was very good, an absolute gentleman, came and met me in Newry, left me his number after and gave me plenty to work on.
“I did that then said to Tony I wanted to give playing another go…”
Clarke’s latest comeback came towards the end of the first round win over Liatroim and, by the time the semi-final rolled around, he was back in the groove – until his knee buckled before half-time.
“You lull yourself into a false sense of security.
“I thought ‘I’m going well here’, then when it happened it was a sense of… disbelief. I was quite emotional at half-time over it, and just implored the boys to get us to the final, which they did, and the rest is history.
“Fair play to Tony he put me on for a few minutes in the final and a bit in Ulster as well. I eventually did go for the surgery, but it got me through the year, which was what I wanted.
“To share that day with a lot of them boys, some really close mates who you’d been with right through, it was amazing.”
Four years on, a lot of those same men are striving for bigger honours under Clarke’s watch.
The transition from player to boss hasn’t been without its challenges, particularly in the early rounds of the league.
Part of him wants to be Jim Gavin on the line, though he accepts the reality is often closer to Davy Fitz.
“It was natural enough in that I would’ve been a talker through my career, though I still find I’m playing the games on the sideline. That’s something I have to get better at,” said Clarke, who has the backing of cousin - and former Burren forward - Eamon Toner, as well as Mark Devlin in his management team.
“My football career, if things were going wrong, all I’ve done was to try to do more. Sometimes on the management side of things you’re wanting the boys to take a step back, settle the heads a wee bit.
“That’s been the difficulty for me.”
Yet here they are, 42 years since the club last made it to a Down final, with one more step to reach that stage.
The reaction from their own supporters as they walked from the field in Kilcoo after downing Mayobridge, the young faces turning up at training to get a closer look at their new heroes, the people wanting to stop and talk football, there is no doubt these are halcyon days for Glenn.
But turning up and taking part was never Stevie Clarke’s game.
“Our lads have gone in - probably in every game - as underdogs, and every game has been a step up in level – from Saval to Longstone to Mayobridge, and now to Burren.
“They’ve met that challenge every single game up to now, and on Friday I think we’ll not be far away either.”
