Football

Paudie Clancy a star in the making says Clonduff forward Barry O'Hagan

On his Down SFC bow for Clonduff on Monday night, teenager Paudie Clancy produced a classy performance, scoring 2-2 - including a superb second goal. Picture by Hugh Russell
On his Down SFC bow for Clonduff on Monday night, teenager Paudie Clancy produced a classy performance, scoring 2-2 - including a superb second goal. Picture by Hugh Russell On his Down SFC bow for Clonduff on Monday night, teenager Paudie Clancy produced a classy performance, scoring 2-2 - including a superb second goal. Picture by Hugh Russell

CLONDUFF and Down forward Barry O’Hagan has tipped teenage hotshot Paudie Clancy to have a big future in the yellow jersey after a stunning senior championship debut against Carryduff on Monday night.

The 17-year-old bagged 2-2 in a classy showing at Pairc Esler, including the impudent chipped goal six minutes into the second half which all but sealed Clonduff’s progress to a round two showdown with Bryansford on Sunday.

Last year Clancy helped St Colman’s College to the Rannafast Cup and, with dad Eddie hailing from Limerick, hurling is also in the blood.

Arthur McConville missed Monday night’s game as a result of a suspension that carried over from last year’s Down championship semi-final defeat to Kilcoo and, along with Rian Branagan who also missed the victory over Carryduff, is in the frame for a return against the ’Ford.

And, whether he starts on Sunday or not, O’Hagan feels Clancy has already shown that he has plenty to offer in the years ahead.

“You want to see Paudie playing football at training - he’s just ripping things up,” said the 26-year-old, who started like a house on fire on Monday night too, bagging a goal with just eight seconds played.

“Only that the U19s is scrapped this year we probably wouldn’t have got him. That would have been his priority but it’s worked out well for us. He came in there after lockdown and has been absolutely fantastic.

“Some of those shots, now that I’m getting a bit older, I probably wouldn’t take because you’re afraid of somebody shouting at you or getting pulled off. But he has an eye for goal and he’s fearless.

“Even in the league he came on against Rostrevor and changed the game for us. He’s a big talent.”

The two O’Hagan brothers, Barry and Darren, both made their return to Adrian McDonnell and Mark Harte’s starting 15 having picked up injuries in the opening night league victory over Kilcoo last month.

Barry looked sharp from the off, and the younger brother insists training day duels with 29-year-old Darren have always helped drag the best from both.

“Especially with Down, me and him mark each other, but I have no fear of him to be honest,” said the 26-year-old.

“Obviously we used to live in the same house and there was plenty of nights we drove back and never spoke a word to each other after training, you’d be that thick.

“If I get a chance I’ll take him on and he’ll do the very same – just because I’m his brother he’s not going to go easy on me. If anything, if he gets the chance he’ll do me.”

Those closing words are delivered with a laugh, and both will be key men if Clonduff are to have any chance of realising their dream of ending a 20-year wait for the Frank O’Hare Cup.

The Yellas were two points ahead going into the final quarter of last year’s championship clash with Kilcoo before being ground down by the Magpies, who would go on to claim a seventh Down title in eight years before conquering Ulster for the first time.

Clonduff managed only three points that night, just one from play, and O’Hagan knows the Hilltown men must learn from those lessons if they are to reach that level.

“There’s this thing going around that teams fear Kilcoo; I don’t think we fear them, it’s just sometimes when we get into the late stages of a championship game, those last 10 minutes…

I’ve only played one championship final and two semi-finals, so my experience of being at that stage is light. They’re playing championship semi-finals, finals, Ulster quarters, semis year in, year out where it’s a wee bit strange for us.

“When we score a point or a goal we could tend to be a wee bit more hyped up where they’re cool and relaxed. That’s just what we have to bring to our game. If we get to that stage we have to be more confident in ourselves, more relaxed and try to stick to the plan we have.

“I would see Clonduff as one of the top teams in Down, and if we put our 15 players down on paper we should win championships year in, year out – but we don’t. And that’s purely because of decision-making in big games.

“I’m at fault with that too but that’s something we have to get better at.”