Tuite confident his side won't get Thunderstruck

JFC FINAL PREVIEW

When he is seeking to get in the zone in the final hours before a big game and ready himself for the confrontation to come Clann na nGael’s joint-captain Paul Tuite does what many young footballers do. He puts on his earphones on and listens to some of his favourite tunes.

As a 24-year-old you might expect he would play something from latter-day favourites such as DC Fontaines, Taylor Swift or maybe Kneecap. Instead he likes to go for something from Oasis or, if he really wants to get the blood flowing, he’ll put on those veteran rockers AC/DC and play songs such as their timeless, stirring classic, Thunderstruck.

It’s just something that works for him and helps to pass the tedious hours before the ball is thrown in and the action gets underway.

There were plenty of listless hours to grapple with ahead of Clann na nGael’s JFC semi-final victory over Slane. With the match played in Dunganny on a Sunday evening Tuite, and no doubt the rest of the players from both camps, found the time leading up the start, a real drag.

Footballers, you suspect, would prefer games to be played as earlier in the day – and the earlier the better.

In that 1-13 to 1-6 victory over Slane, Clann na nGael showed two sides of their character. Brilliant in the opening half they faded out of the game for 20 minutes or so of the second act when they looked, well, thunderstruck.

“We knew they would come back into it and they got a couple of unanswered scores and yes, there was a couple of careless mistakes on our part,” admitted the Clann na nGael joint-captain when he spoke to the Meath Chronicle at the media night at Dunganny ahead of the various county finals.

Not that he is too concerned by that Slane fade out. Articulate and confident, and young for the role of joint-captain, Tuite really believes in this Clann na nGael team and what they can achieve. He has no doubts that if they get the breaks, and his team plays to their potential they have a real chance against St Vincent’s who appear to be strong favourites in the minds of many.

He also points out, he and his colleagues have an extra incentive or two going into the game, including the powerful motivation that can be derived from seeking to exact revenge for a previous defeat. He also suggests his team has yet to play as well as the can in this year’s championship.

“We know what St Vincent’s are like, they put us out of the championship last year at the semi-final stage. We know they are strong but we are strong also, we’re fit, we’ve a lot in the locker yet that we have to unleash.”

Joint-captain along with Daragh Griffin, Tuite who works as an electrician, has endured some topsy-turvy times in his club’s green and gold colours even though he’s still only at the foothills of his career.

In 2019 he helped Clann na nGael win the JFC when they defeated Moylagh after a replay. A spell in the IFC followed but relegation resulted in a drop back to the junior ranks.

Clann na nGael did make the 2023 JFC final but they found a resurgent Kilbride too hot to handle on the big day. Now they are back there once more with another shot at redemption.

Like so many modern footballers Tuite knows the vital importance of mental preparations for games – and he looks to learn lessons from other sports.

A big Manchester United fan he imagines what it must be like playing in that red-hot, high-pressure environment, conceding an early goal and the mental resilience required to bounce back from such a setback.

When asked to outline when his own Clann nan Gael team showed the kind of resolute mental fortitude required of winners in this year’s championship he points to their quarter-final victory over Dunderry.

“We had three poor group games, even though we were unbeaten (they won two, drew one). They were games when we knew we didn’t play to our full ability. Going into a fixture like that Dunderry match it’s never easy, a local derby. They had defeated us earlier in the year so we knew we would have to be ready.

“We knew we had to beat them to progress and after not playing good football up to then we produced it on the day, we were on fire in that game. We beat Dunderry by 17 points and that doesn’t happen every day of the week.”

This year Tuite has played as a wing-back even tough he wears number 11. It’s just the modern game where the numbers worn by the players bears little resemblance to where they actually find themselves on the field. He likes what the new rules have brought to the game, the freedom now given to players to move and switch roles.

The Clann na nGael vice-captain says he will happy to play anywhere, even in goals, as long as he gets a place on the team adding with a familiar smile, that there’s little chance of him replacing his team’s regular, classy netminder Eoin Griffin, one of the beat shot-stoppers in the business. Anywhere.

The Clann na nGael joint-captain just hopes his team can, like they did in the first-half against Slane, conjure up a big performance on the big day and leave St Vincent’s reeling. Thunderstruck.