Sallins have turned one of their best weakness into their greatest strength
Sallins manager Jonathan Daniels Photo: Sean Brilly
Looking at Sallins playing this season, it would hard to imagine that a lack of fight or work rate would be something that could hold them back but that is something that Jonathan Daniels identified when he joined the club two years ago.
The Blessington man identified a weakness, worked upon it and flipped it around so that it is now one of Sallins’ best assets.
“When I first went into Sallins there would have been massive questions over their appetite and their work rate and their ability to deal with games down the stretch. When people were looking in at Sallins from the outside they might have said that the one edge they might have over them would be the work rate so we said that was going to be one of our main attributes, we’re going to out work every team we play and then everything else will look after itself after that,” said Daniels.
That effort and willingness to put in the hard yards was far too much for either Carlow’s Grange or Meath’s Kilbride to handle so far as Sallins stretched their run to nine successive Championship games won this year by double digit scores.
“Going down to Navan is never easy and all we did was prepare as best we could. It might sound a bit cheesy but we’ve taken every game as it’s come. We’ve never looked ahead of ourselves. It’s a young group and I think they are quite humble and are really a unique group. Heads down and preparing as best we can for every single game has stood to us so far,” said Daniels.
Complements from Meath people towards Kildare GAA are few and far between but such was the quality of Sallins’ display that some experienced local journalists suggested that they would be favourites to win the Meath Senior Championship. Some managers would chose to shield their team away from such talk but Daniels is happy to instil that belief and confidence into his players.
“There’s different ways of coaching teams and different philosophies but I’m a big believer in building up a team. I’m not one to tear a team down and to keep them on their toes all the time. I’m a big believer in belief and a team needs belief to be successful. We were quite nervous going down to Meath, you’re going into something of the unknown, you’re playing a county champion and you’re of the mindset of ‘What if they get a goal early’ or ‘What if we don’t play as well as we’d like to play’. We were looking at all those scenarios but on a really sticky pitch to deliver the kind of performance that we did is a testament to the work that the boys have done all year. I know there were comments about what level we might be able to play in the Senior Championship in Kildare or Meath but that’s really irrelevant to us right now,” said Daniels.
As it stands, Sallins are seen as one of the favourites for the Leinster Intermediate Championship, and maybe even beyond, but that’s only as a result of the hard work that is done every night on the pitch.
“We trained on Thursday night and said there’s 14 teams left in the Intermediate Championship around the country. We said what can we do that is going to be better than the rest of those teams. That’s our mentality, to keep out standards very high and to keep the performances up and see where that takes us,” said Daniels.
While he has the utmost confidence in his players there is no chance of Daniels taking any opponent for granted and they will give Offaly champions Clara the height of respect ahead of Sunday’s last four clash.
“When we looking at games I’m always big into looking into what is a club’s history and tradition and what a club is about so I’d do a bit of research before even looking at their matches. Clara won their last senior in 2009 and one of the players that will play against us on Sunday was on that team (Graham Guilfoyle) so they will have a player on the pitch with a senior club medal in his back pocket. They also played a senior quarter-final against Ferbane in 2022 and were very close to winning that so a lot of their players would have sampled football at that level. They are a very proud football club in Clara and a proud senior club so we are going to be under no illusions that a real test is coming to Newbridge on Sunday,” he said.
It's a good time to be a Sallins fan. These are heady days for the club and last Saturday evening in Lawlor’s hotel there was a night to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their last team to win a Leinster title.
“There’s a huge energy around the club and a huge buzz,” said Daniel.
“It was quite interesting as an outsider to be invited to that night and people were so keen for me to go. It makes me feel a lot more engrained in the club. The reserves won their league and championship this year, we’re still going, the 23s are out now and we are trying to manage that as well because we think that’s very important. There’s a great buzz and a real community spirit. A lot of people in the community have rallied around behind the club and that can only be good for the club and the community itself.”
The best way to celebrate that team of 2000 would be win another Leinster title and Sallins are on the right track to do just that.
Hunterstown Rovers (Louth) v Tubberclair (Offaly)
Saturday 29 November
Stabannon Parnells, 1.30pm
Sallins v Clara (Offaly)
Sunday 30 November
Cedral St Conleth's Park, 2pm
