Letting down the Blade
Letting down the Blade
When my uncle, Joe Sweeney, would tell me he had to let down the blade, it never made a lot of sense to me. But of course I let on I understood, as he lowered the mowing arm on the horse drawn machine to get every last sprig of grass off the meadow in Killaneen. He wanted to shave off the minutest strand, to get the best value he could out of the few acres of grass he had to work on.
I thought of Uncle Joe last Sunday, as Mary Flynn and Noeleen Noone poured the tea in a rather subdued atmosphere at half time. There were happy Clare faces of course, but the stewards and supporters and everyone in a green and gold jacket hovered inÓgroups, like in the hallway of the High Court and wondered what in blazes had happened in the run up to half time.
We appeared to be on a roll, but play was rightly held up to care for worrying looking injuries to Cathal McCrann and then Adrian Croal and suddenly we were behind and Clare had risen from the dead.
Micko will probably be getting plaudits today for pulling some master stroke inside that wise old head. But he didn’t really, he probably just told his players to go back out and keep the stolen momentum going. Anyway, they did and we could have had no complaints at full time, Clare deserved to go home with the two points.
Of immediate concern to us is that Cathal and Adrian make full and speedy recoveries – and not just for football reasons, they don’t deserve to be in pain or discomfort or unable to work or socialise for giving their all for the county jersey. But hurry back, lads!
If George or Barney talk this week about letting down the blade, we will all know what they mean. What has beenÓgiven on the training field to date, will pale a little compared to what is to come, every last ounce will be demanded from everyone in the team party. It’s not the end of the world. We have lost two matches in a row before. And don’t forget we had won four in a row just before these last glitches.
The rest of us can let down the blade a bit too – if we could all get just one more member each into the Supporters Club, it would make such a difference. Shay Reynolds and Michael Feeney would be quite happy if they had to bale the Euro notes. The banks are open for business, well, some of them anyway.
And George and Barney and the players are still open for business.
Let down the blade, lads, we are all still behind you.
11-Feb-13 by Tommy Moran
