Muskerry football’s sleeping giants Donoughmore are on the up under Mossie Barrett

WHEN Donoughmore were crowned Muskerry JAFC winners in 2011, it was seen as a huge positive moment in the club’s history, but it was a false dawn as the intervening years showed.

The Mid-Cork club have been in the wilderness for far too long for their liking but with a young team and a vastly experienced manager at the helm, will it prove to be the magic formula?

Mossie Barrett is in his first season back in charge of his beloved club, a man who has been around the block a fair few times. He managed the Cork junior football team to four All-Ireland titles in 2001, 2005, 2007 and 2009. The Rebels also won Munster crowns in those years.

Add in the fact that Barrett coached the Donoughmore ladies football team to an intermediate county, thirteen senior county titles, nine Munster senior crowns and two All-Ireland senior titles, you get a great sense of the capabilities of the man. Barrett also trained Donoughmore U21 men’s team to the Muskerry and County U21 C football championship crowns in 2018.

He has also trained various club teams around the county over the years including Dohenys, Macroom, Clyda Rovers and Glanworth but he’s now back where it all started for him as he tries to guide Donoughmore to Mid-Cork JAFC glory during his tenure.

It’s possibly his toughest gig given the team in black and white haven’t exactly pulled up trees for several years and lost their three group stage games in championship last year.

Barrett was very open and honest when talking about how his appointment came about in the off-season but he’s certainly not shying away from the big job on his hands.

“It’s very simple, I was part of a committee to put management in place,” he says.

“We found it impossible, it’s as basic as that. We looked inside and outside of the club, and it went on for a good while and in the end, I decided I would go for it. It’s a huge challenge. The last number of years have been very, very, very rough going. 

“But there is a nucleus of a very good young team at the moment, and we still have a good hard core of older players we call them, guys in their mid-twenties, early thirties. The players are buying into training and results have been going well.” 

Barrett has done his fair share of travelling, training many clubs all over Leeside, but it doesn’t get any better than managing your local and beloved club.

“Donoughmore is the heartbeat of my own heart,” Barrett says.

“I have been involved in clubs left, right and centre and the Cork junior football team for a while but it’s like being a player, you always start out with the club, and you will always finish with the club. I have been involved with the Donoughmore junior A football team previously, but what I always feel about it is, you must get enjoyment out of it first of all and that goes beyond results. 

It’s all about the feedback from the players. As I talk today, I can honestly say that the management and backroom team we have, the players we have, I am absolutely loving it right now.” 

Donoughmore are a sleeping giant in Muskerry, and Barrett can’t quite put his finger on why the club have struggled over the last number of years.

“We have discussed over and over about the club’s situation,” he said.

“I just can’t explain why we haven’t made an impression. Maybe we took the foot off the pedal a small bit and expected things to happen. Maybe we were mentally weak. When we won the Muskerry and U21 C football titles in 2018 we never kicked on in the years after that. 

“The learning is that this year, the U21s were a kick of a ball away from going up to the A grade, they lost to Kilmurry in the Mid-Cork final after extra-time. We have to build on that, keep lads involved and push on. 

There are no more excuses. We have to get into a winning mentality.” 

There is a confidence and a bit of swagger back around Donoughmore. With Barrett’s character, coaching credentials, and experience, it’s not a surprise. With just one league game remaining for Donoughmore in the Muskerry Division 1 football league, they are top of the table with four wins and two draws from six games, a league decider is on the cards. 

In the championship group stage, Donoughmore will face Clondrohid, Kilmichael and Éire Óg’s second team.

“We have everything in place now, it’s a case of are we good enough? Time will tell. When I hear people talking about projects, and three-year plans and all that, I honestly feel that’s nonsense. You must grasp every year on its own merits.

SOFT TOUCH

“When the season is over this year, I hope no one will ever mention again that Donoughmore are a soft touch. Our ambition is to finish in the top two. It will be difficult, but it won’t be for want of trying.”