9 years after watching on as a teenager, Conway is ready to lead Celbridge to further glory

Fergal Conway has played in plenty of big games since breaking onto the scene as a talented minor player in 2011. There have been league finals in Division 3 and Division 2; a first Leinster final this year, and of course the U21 Leinster final which the Lilywhites won in 2013. But this is the first time the burly midfielder will line out in a senior championship final for his club, and considering it’s only Celbridge’s second time ever – their first being in 2008 – to be present on the big day, there are plenty more of his colleagues in the same situation.

“I remember being here watching the game and seeing Celbridge lift the trophy,” Conway told KildareNow of watching on as Celbridge lifted their first and only county title in 2008.

“It’s a good memory to look back on and it’s something that would spur you on to think that one day you could be involved with a group of men that could go on to do something similar.”

Conway was just 15 back then, so he was not involved with the panel, and while he remembers the day fondly, he is keen to make his own memories on the pitch this Sunday. With the experience of playing in so many big games, the Kildare star is not overly nervous ahead of the big game.

“Nerves are fine; I’m just really looking forward to the occasion and the game,” he said.

“As you said, it’s our first final since 2008 and a lot of our first finals bar the lads that were involved then. We’re looking forward to it; we’re under no illusions of the task that awaits us. We’ve all heard the stat of how many finals Moorefield have been to since 2000, so they’re a well experienced team and they’re going well. I think the past few weeks we’ve been just been preparing for them, knowing what they’ll bring and realising that if we don’t bring our A game we’ll really struggle.”

Celbridge have always been there or thereabouts at the latter end of the Senior Championship in recent years, but they’ve never made it further than the semi-final stage, often coming up short when they face off against sides such as Sarsfields and Moorefield. This year they have impressively dispatched some of the county’s big guns – Round Towers, Naas, Sarsfields and Johnstownbridge – so they have shaken that particular monkey off their back.

Conway isn’t reading too much into the win over reigning champions Sarsfields, but was delighted by the manner in which Celbridge shut out Johnstownbridge in the semi-final.

“We did and we didn’t,” he said when asked whether his side took a lot of heart from the win over Sarsfields.

“I suppose we probably felt that we let ourselves down a bit; we were in a comfortable position and I suppose they were missing a few so we didn’t read too much into it. They’ve been a powerhouse of club football in Kildare, so it was just another stepping stone on getting to the final really.”

“Our attack probably wasn’t firing on all cylinders that day, but our defence was pretty solid,” he noted on the win over Johnstownbridge.

“I think that the firepower they had there with Daniel Flynn getting nominated for an All-Star – I think not letting him score from play was a pretty good achievement for who was on him. They put us to the pin of our collar for most of the game and it was only really towards the end that we got to grips with them.”

Many people will place Moorefield as strong favourites ahead of the final due to their experience on such occasions. Most of their players that will be present on Sunday have played in at least one final, and the sight of the green and white jersey has the uncanny ability to strike some underlying fear into teams they come up against. Conway doesn’t feel any fear, but he has plenty of respect for what the Newbridge men have achieved over the years.

“There wouldn’t be fear; I’d say there’s respect that you know what they’ve been through with the players they have and the experience they’ve built up over the years. Fear? No, but definitely respect, yes. They’re a serious outfit and they have years of experience, bags of county titles, which is something we don’t have and we know we’re going to have to knuckle down and give one of the best performances of the year if we’re going to get over them.”