JAMES CLARKE PLAYS with a spark and a freedom that rouses excitement.
That sense of adventure and enjoyment won’t change when he lines out for Bohemians against St Patrick’s Athletic in the FAI Cup final tomorrow.
This was the kind of occasion he let his mind wander to in the summer of 2021, when he spent three months working part-time in a meat processing plant while making his way in the League of Ireland with Drogheda United.
His shift was from 6am to 2pm, those hours spent cutting up ham or turkey and filling it with water before wrapping it up to be cooked in a different part of the plant.
It was an hour round-trip from home followed by another two hours in the car to and from training in the evenings.
“It was flat out, but it was a job, it had to be done,” Clarke tells The 42.
“It was the cold meat section. In my area there would be six or seven of us in that fridge for eight hours. It was during Covid too. We had masks on, full body suits, and gloves. When you’d breathe the air would condense on the mask, it would be soaking every 20 minutes.
“I needed that job. I didn’t feel I’d be there forever. I kind of hated being there but I had to get on with it and keep the faith in myself with football.”
That’s an inner belief that has been required from his early teens.
Clarke also pulled pints in a local pub in Meath and worked at a busy service station. When he was doing his Leaving Certificate, he opted for a soccer scholarship at Maynooth Universtity and chose to study law.
“Well, it was the closest college to my house. Only about 40 minutes and the course was interesting, there are loads of options with it,” he shrugs.
That degree will come in useful down the road but the only journey he is interested in now is the one to Aviva Stadium for Irish football’s showpiece.
Should the Bohs team bus require an escort of a different kind to Dublin 4, Clarke could call on his new neighbours.
“Yeah, the Hell’s Angels have a house a couple doors down from us,” he laughs.
The large logo of the Ireland branch of the bike gang is painted on the wall and the gates spell it out too, but there is no red and black bunting showing their support.
That is instead draped across the front of the small cottage in Mulhuddart that a generous supporter owns and offered to the club for players.
On-loan Reading defender Louie Holzman is a housemate. A few minutes down the road in Dunboyne, the other club house is somewhat busier with Polish defenders Kacper Radkowski and Krystian Nowak sharing with Ali Coote, James Akintunde and Jonathan Afolabi.
“We got lucky, we even have a spare room. It’s nice and quiet,” Clarke jokes.
Directly across the road is an astro pitch that seems to be occupied every hour of the day.
Clarke would be out there until the floodlights were switched off if he could.
“I love football. I’ve always loved having the ball at my feet and enjoying playing,” the midfielder says.
He is a rare breed, capable of driving past opponents in the heart of the pitch with mazy dribbles and direct running.
“My attitude has always been to try and make something happen. My first thought when I get the ball is to be positive.
“When I was younger there would be times when I was told to dribble less, but it’s OK to try and do something different, we don’t all have to be doing the same thing.
“You can’t let the game into your head just because it’s a cup final, thinking what you might do here or might do there. It’s important to have a clear mind, not to overthink.”
Clarke turns 23 in January.
Growing up he played Gaelic football for his local club Ballivor and represented Meath at U15 and U16 level, before he had to choose the path to follow.
“It wasn’t really a decision. It was always going to be football, not GAA.”
The area he’s from, about 10 minutes from Trim, is actually a small hurling stronghold. Plenty he grew up went that route but he was never going to follow.
“I had no interest. I only wanted a football at my feet,” he says.
Liverpool were his club and when he’d play matches or have kickabouts with mates he would regularly shout out commentary if he struck a sweet shot.
He looks around the coffee shop and whispers a re-enactment.
“GERRRRRAAAAARD!”
Clarke is the youngest of four children; his closest brother in age lives in the family home, another has a sense of wanderlust and won’t make it back from Switzerland to the Aviva Stadium while the eldest, his sister in London, made sure to book her flight once a place in the final was secured.
“I am definitely the annoying one,” he laughs.
There will be aunties and uncles, cousins and friends coming from throughout the Royal County.
His father is a lapsed Leeds United fan, his mother a proud Cork woman. Both make sure they never miss a Bohs match.
“There was never any pressure growing up. It was about doing what I enjoyed and they supported that. Dad would stand on the sideline quietly, other parents weren’t always like that. He’d ask me if I enjoyed it after the game finished and how I thought I played. I’d always be honest with myself. If I didn’t play well, I knew it.”
Clarke was spotted by Bohs at the age of 10 when he went to one of their camps in Navan.
He spent a year with them before joining Belvedere. After a season there he went to Cherry Orchard. Nathan Collins was a teammate – his father David the manager – and while he impressed enough to represent the DDSL Kennedy Cup sides – playing alongside another future senior Ireland international Jason Knight – he was overlooked for trials in Britain.
“I was small. Even until I was 17 I was really small. I never went away at all, but you can’t lose faith in yourself,” Clarke reasons.
“Yeah, obviously it was annoying when you’re a kid because you’d like to think you might get some chance and when you see others going, maybe subconsciously that always pushed me on.
“But my attitude was ‘just keep fucking playing football, don’t give in, do your best’. You can only control what you do so I tried not to let that stuff get to me.”
After a few years with Cherry Orchard, that team dismantled as the League of Ireland’s underage national leagues kicked into gear.
Clarke headed for Shamrock Rovers. Gavin Bazunu was a teammate for a season. Stephen Rice – currently on the senior Ireland coaching staff – was in charge of his team while he also saw Damien Duff operate up close.
“But I wasn’t playing as well as I could. I felt like I could do more. I wasn’t happy with how I was playing and I wanted to go somewhere to try and play first team football.
“I trusted my own instinct to leave Rovers and back myself with the decision.”
His self-belief should come to the fore on Irish football’s biggest stage tomorrow, possibly in front of a record attendance of more than 41,000.
“That is what I want to do, get forward, attack, try and make something happen.”