SOCCER
Gary Shaw – The Newbridge Wanderer
By Daire Walsh
HE may be heading into his 12th season as a League of Ireland footballer, but Newbridge’s Gary Shaw is showing no signs of slowing down just yet.
Still only 28 years of age, Shaw is currently in his second spell at Bray Wanderers having also featured in the ranks of Longford Town, Shamrock Rovers and St Patrick’s Athletic. During his first stint at the club (2010-2011), the Seagulls were a Premier Division side capable of defeating the very best in the top-flight on a given day.
In 2010 alone, Bray registered no fewer than three victories against Dundalk and also held eventual champions Shamrock Rovers to a scoreless draw at the Carlisle Grounds. The north Wicklow men followed this up spectacularly a year later by recording home and away successes over Rovers, who remained on top of the League of Ireland ladder.
Legendary Bray Wanderers manager, Pat Devlin, recalls the Newbridge native with fondness. “We gave Gary his League of Ireland debut when he was 17/18 years old. He was a very committed young lad, a very talented young boy and a really nice fella on top of that,” Devlin said. “Although he was quite inexperienced at the time but he was in with a good bunch of fellas who brought him along and he did very well. We were delighted with him,” he added.
Fast forward 10 years and Bray currently find themselves in the First Division, having lost out to Galway United in a promotion play-off at the end of last season. With the relegation of Cork City significantly raising the division’s profile, Shaw knows they will have a fight on their hands if they want to return to the top-tier after a three-year absence.
“It looks very competitive. I’d say last season was a great opportunity to go up, but this season is going to be very, very tough. A lot of experienced players are sticking with their teams or they’ve signed with a First Division club. It’s going to be very interesting to see how things go,” Shaw acknowledged.
“There’ll be plenty to play for every week. It’s going to be helter skelter and hopefully we can get off to a good start, and nail on a decent position in the first series of games. I’ve found throughout my career a good start is absolutely vital to get the ball rolling. You don’t want to slip behind too early. If we can do that, we’ll be there or thereabouts.”
Seagulls manager Gary Cronin has already dipped substantially into the transfer market, acquiring the services of Conor Clifford, Steven Kinsella, Kian Clarke, Richie O’Farrell and Sean Callan. Additionally, JR Wilson, Killian Cantwell and Jack Watson are confirmed departures from their 2020 squad.
The signing of Clifford from Derry City is of particular interest. A one-time teenage prodigy at Chelsea with 45 underage international caps to his name, the Dubliner has spent time at Dundalk, Limerick, St Patrick’s Athletic and Derry since returning to Ireland in 2017.
Shaw was previously his team-mate at St Pat’s and revealed that he played a small part in his latest domestic move.
“Conor has obviously come back and tried to get a career going in Ireland. I played with him at Pat’s and he’s a fantastic professional. He’s a great player. He still has great ability. I had a word with him last year. I tried to convince him to come, but he decided to go to Derry.
“Once the season ended I had another quick word with him so I hope I played a good part in getting him to come to Bray. A very worthy addition to the squad. A box-to-box midfielder who can score goals as well. Plenty of energy. Out of all the signings so far, you’d say Conor is probably one of the biggest ones.”
It has been a hectic few weeks for Shaw off the field as he recently began a new full-time role with Lucozade Ribena Suntory in the area of business development, sales and merchandising. The former Newbridge Town youth striker also welcomed a new addition to his family in the middle of last year and though this will leave him with a lot to juggle, the way Bray are set-up will help to make it a smoother adjustment.
“I was working for Diageo up until the end of last season and up until Christmas. I was only doing contract work. They get very busy during the Christmas period, with all the supermarkets and stuff like that. Then I got offered a position in Lucozade. I’m doing that for the last three weeks, basically since St Stephen’s Day. I’ve started that position full-time, taking care of the midlands area.
“That’s been keeping me busy up until now. We train or we’re involved with Bray five nights a week. When I was with Pat’s or Rovers we were in five days a week. It just meant we were in during the morning time, instead of the evening time.
“That’s the only difference with what people think part-time and full-time clubs are. I welcomed a new baby girl last June and she’s seven months old today [last Thursday]. I’ve plenty on my plate at the moment. It will be a good juggle act for 2021.”
While Shaw wouldn’t be surprised if the already delayed start date of March 26 for the First Division is pushed back even further, he is eager to get back out on the field as soon as possible. That begins with pre-season training, which gets underway for the Seagulls this coming Saturday.
“It gives us the six or seven week lead-in to the proposed start dates. Obviously we have to wait to see if that start date will change. That’s the plan to get back as a group. We’re obviously classed in an elite capacity and are permitted to train together with the Level Five restrictions. It’s great to be able to go out and train, and get out of the house.
“Obviously we still take things very seriously when we are training together. We’re not taking advantage of the fact that we’re allowed to gather as a group. We obviously have to be careful in what we do. We have to follow all the measures that are laid out. Once we do that we can focus on our training and focus on our football.”
Although it is unlikely that crowds will be permitted at League of Ireland games in the first half of the season, there remains a possibility that they could be passing through the turnstiles by the end of 2021. Shaw looks forward to the day when Bray supporters can once again descend upon the Carlisle Grounds as he believes it could offer them the vital edge in getting over the line.
“It does make a difference, I don’t care what anyone says. In the fine margins that we lost; you never know. Those 2,000 people in the Carlisle against Galway last season, egging us on to get that winner, could have made all the difference. Hopefully things can go back to some sort of normality,” Shaw said.
“When you get into the late part of the summer and more people are vaccinated, and there’s safe measures around the grounds, it’s very doable to get a lot of people into the grounds safely. I’m hoping that people at the top can see this and they can allow people to go back in some sort of capacity. If it happens sooner rather than later, happy days. If not, we just have to plan without it.”