Keith Duggan talks to Clarinbridge's Gerry Spelman, who does not underestimate the task facing his side against the mighty Birr.

You could interpret the Clarinbridge story as the classic small-town-boys-take-on-the-world and win. You could say that nobody is more astonished than the players to be journeying to Thurles on All-Ireland final day. You could also say that these players and fans will humbly remember this day for the rest of their lives because being here is beyond their wildest dreams. But none of that would be strictly true.

"In a way, it was always at the back of our minds," explains Gerry Spelman, the most senior hurler with Clarinbridge. "John Mac (McIntyre, the team manager) always had this way of keeping you focused on the bigger picture with what seemed like a throwaway remark. Like, before the Galway quarter-final, he might just refer to us being in the county final. It just got you thinking. So, unfancied as we might have been against Athenry and delighted as we were to win that final, we were that bit prepared for the next step."

Anyway, it is not as if Clarinbridge were without pedigree. In 1996, they ran Athenry close in the county semi-final and were ousted by them again the following season in the final. The best team in the country had them under siege so they knew they weren't far off the pace.

However, ignominious championship defeats in the subsequent years led to the belief that the Clarinbridge promise was gone. Spelman sees it differently. "There was never a grand plan in 1996. We just hurled and never thought about whether we were peaking too early or not. We were possibly unlucky not to beat them that year. But I think what happened was that we lost our way as a team and began hurling as individuals. When that happens, you are in trouble."

It is interesting that Spelman uses the same phrase as the manager in describing McIntyre's alliance with Clarinbridge as "the right people finding each other at the right time".

It is well documented that McIntyre had no intention of coaching hurling this season and went with instinct as opposed to reason in agreeing to preside over Clarinbridge. The lure of another crack at Athenry, long a personal nemesis of McIntyre's, proved irresistible.

"His influence on our season has been immense," Spelman says. "The main thing about John Mac is that he is an exceptionally honest guy. He gives of himself completely. He does all the training with us, you know? And to be honest, when we started out he was fitter than a lot of us. He transformed us into a team again."

But it was slow coming. After committing to a rigorous training programme, the players found themselves growing fitter but the hurling wasn't coming. They played indifferently and lost to ordinary sides.

"He would tell us not to worry about losing the early games and we kept at it. If there was a time when it all fell into place, it was probably in the quarter-final against Gort. I suppose going into this season we might have had a reputation of not being the most physical team in the world, of not liking it put up to us. And in that first half, Gort hit us with everything they had and at the break we were still two points up and had the wind with us. I think that's when the confidence began to flow again."

And since then, they have grown less inhibited, audaciously taking the game to Athenry in this year's final and then coasting against Four Roads of Roscommon. Only against Ballygunner in the All-Ireland semi-final last month did they tighten up, a problem that was alleviated in unfortunate circumstances for Spelman. His dismissal for two yellow cards early in the second half was the crucial point of that match.

"It suited us, in a funny way. We opened up after that, there was more room and we exploited it well. Naturally, I was very disappointed going off as I felt it wasn't even a foul. The ball broke behind me and I tried to flick it one-handed. But there was little I could do. I would have felt terrible thinking that I had cost the team a place in the final."

Only Birr stand between Clarinbridge and the perfect conclusion now. Birr, the masters of expediency and old hands when it comes to delivering All-Ireland titles.

"There are very few teams to which the word great is genuinely applicable," reckons Spelman. "But I think Athenry, Sarsfields and Birr are in that category. Their record is just astounding. We just want to do our absolute best against them and we will have to be if we are to be in with a shout."

If Spelman has one regret it is that his father won't be present to see him and his brother Michael line out for Clarinbridge tomorrow.

"He passed away last year and he would have really loved to have been part of all this. He was just a great supporter of the club, always in around the dressing-room. I remember his last time in our dressing-room after a game. I suppose that made winning the county title especially emotional for ourselves, the fact that he wasn't around to see it."

So deeper bonds will spur the Spelman brothers on tomorrow. Although he admits that this is a special year, the elder Spelman insists that nerves will be minimal that no matter what the occasion, hurling is just hurling. Even the bad seasons had their good points.

Regardless of the result, this has been some season for Clarinbridge.

As a Games Development Officer, coaching national school youngsters in Galway city, he has an intuition about the state and direction of the game in the county.

He is unable, however, to predict what Clarinbridge's year will mean to the sport there.

"Maybe it well be the start of something or just a bolt in the blue. The county championship is starting up again in five or six weeks and I think that's when we will be able to answer that one. When we get together to meet for a new season, we will find out how much we have in ourselves and if we are prepared to give if everything again."

And although he has been around too long to predict as much, the suspicion is that Spelman is counting on another big season ahead.'