Talking Points: Kilruane looking to turn the tide for Tipp in Munster
KINGPINS: Conor Cleary and Oisin O'Meara of Kilruane MacDonaghs celebrate after the Tipperary SHC replay win against Kiladangan at Semple Stadium. Picture: Philip Fitzpatrick/Sportsfile
WHEN Thurles Sarsfields finally landed a first Munster club title in 2012, it felt like the longest wait was over, even if the wait was nowhere near as long as what a host of other clubs in the province had to endure.
Prior to 2005, Thurles had only competed in Munster on three occasions, and they didn’t even reach the final in any of those years. When they finally ended a 31-year famine in Tipperary in 2005, they were well beaten by Newtownshandrum in the Munster semi-final.
Sars also lost to Newtown in the 2009 quarter-final and, while Sars reached their first final the following year, they lost to De la Salle in a game they felt they should have won. Maybe it was the immense quality in their team, plus the huge history attached to the club, but making the breakthrough in 2012 made it feel like a Munster title long overdue.
In many ways though, Thurles’ story has largely been a metaphor for Tipperary clubs in the Munster club championship. The county has invariably produced high-quality county champions, but that class hasn’t always been fully transparent in the Munster club championship.
Borris-Ileigh were brilliant champions in 2019 but since ‘Sars won that provincial title a decade ago, Tipperary clubs have played nine games in Munster and won just three, a success rate of just 33%. Two of those games were won by Borris-Ilegih in 2019, but in six of the last eight seasons that Tipp clubs featured in the province, they failed to win a game.
There is devil in the detail though, because the Tipp clubs have been highly competitive – they just haven’t got over the line on enough occasions. Removing the only poor result in the last decade – Clonoulty/Rossmore’s 18-point whipping at the hands of Na Piarsaigh in 2018 – the average margin of defeat is just 3.5 points.
Two of those defeats came after extra time. In other games, the Tipp clubs hit the wall in different forms. Two weeks after completing a remarkable double in Tipperary in 2013, Loughmore-Castleiney lost to Na Piarsaigh in Semple Stadium by two points after having to play the last 25 minutes with 13 men.
A year later, Cratloe from Clare wore down Thurles, who were forced to play the whole game with 14 men after Denis Maher was red-carded at the throw-in. In 2015, Sars narrowly lost to Na Piarsaigh in Limerick in a game that hinged on goal chances Na Piarsaigh took and Thurles didn’t.
Despite winning four county titles in a row between 2014-’17, Sars only won one game in the province during that time, a one-point win against Ballygunner in the 2016 quarter-final. In the subsequent semi-final, Thurles were edged out by Ballyea in Ennis after extra-time.
In 2017, Thurles were also beaten after extra time, by Ballygunner. Last year, after their 19th game in a row, Loughmore-Castleiney were beaten by Ballygunner after having John and Noel McGrath harshly sent off.
Now it’s Kilruane MacDonagh’s turn to turn the tide. The last time they played in Munster in 1985, they won the competition, defeating Blackrock in the final. After winning a first Tipp title in 37 years last week, Niall O’Meara spoke to Stephen Gleeson of Tipp GAA TV. “Well, at least I won’t have to listen to the auld lads anymore,” said O’Meara.
He won’t. The best way to really quieten them though, would be to make a statement in Munster, starting against the All-Ireland champions.
SHORLY after Errigal Ciarán won the Tyrone county title last Sunday some black and white archive footage appeared on Twitter rekindling memories of when Errigal won their first title 29 years ago. It was mostly a tribute to the brilliance of Peter Canavan, who captained that team, but it also featured an interview from Mickey Harte, who guided Errigal to that title.
Harte was ecstatic, detailing just how euphoric the moment actually was when the final whistle went. Harte’s emotion was fully understandable because he was the man at the root cause of the famous feud that split the Ballygawley club, where Harte and the players from six or seven other families in Ballygawley did not kick competitive football again for almost a decade.
The emergence of Canavan and his genius was at the core of negotiating their way through the impasse and Errigal Ciarán was formed in 1991. In 1993, they won the Tyrone championship for the first time in 62 years.
On that grainy footage, Harte said that the only way it could get any better was if Errigal went on to win Ulster, which they did. They were the first Tyrone club to do so but images of that victory rekindled memories of a golden time for the Ulster club championship in the 1990s and early 2000s. Prior to 1996, Ulster clubs had won four All-Irelands but they went on to win four in six seasons between 1997 and 2002.
Three of those titles were won by Crossmaglen Rangers but they were pushed to the extreme in Ulster during that period. In their three All-Ireland winning seasons, Cross’ won two of those Ulster finals by one point while the third win was by a margin of just three points after a replay.
The only game Cross’ lost in Ulster between 1996 and 1999 was the semi-final to Errigal Ciarán in 1997. Errigal also lost the 2000 final (to Bellaghy, who had twice lost finals to Cross’) before the Tyrone side won their first title in 2002, beating Enniskillen Gaels in the final. The Fermanagh side had also lost the 1999 final to Crossmaglen by one point.
Over two decades on and this year’s Ulster championship carries strong shades of that storied past, but it also has the potential to be one of the most competitive provincial campaigns in years.
Some of those big guns are back, including Crossmaglen, Errigal and Enniskillen Gaels. So are Gowna, who won six of their eight county titles between 1994-2002 and were always a hard team to beat in Ulster during that period.
The other contenders add to the spice; All-Ireland champions Kilcoo, Naomh Conaill who have been a dominant force in Donegal, a Glen side loaded with Derry players, a Cargin outfit which have won six of the last eight Antrim titles, along with Ballybay, who defeated a Scotstown side in the final which had won seven of the previous nine Monaghan titles.
It all kicks off this evening with Crossmaglen against Ballybay. And it has the potential to be an epic campaign.
IT WAS something only anoraks would have spotted at the time but the 2017 Kilkenny U16 Division One hurling League Shield final result jumped off the page. Naas hammered Ballyhale Shamrocks by 6-11 to 0-7. It wasn’t a major shock either because Naas had already beaten James Stephens, Dicksboro, Erin’s Own and Bennettsbridge.
Historically, Naas had always travelled to test themselves as hurlers. Going back to the 1970s, their teams played in the Dublin leagues. Proving themselves in Kilkenny though, crossed a new frontier.
Shortly afterwards Paudie Butler, the great hurling coach and evangelist, said that Naas had the potential to turn into a serious force at hurling. Butler also said that hurling seemed to be the dominant game in the club at that time.
It was a big statement to make especially in such a strong footballing county, and in a club with such a strong football tradition. Yet seven of Naas’ eight county football titles (at that time) were won between 1920-’32 while they hadn’t won a senior title since 1990.
Butler was right about Naas’ hurling potential, with the club going on to win four-in-a-row, while they are the reigning All-Ireland Intermediate hurling champions. If anything though, that success seems to have inspired their footballers, who have now won successive titles, completing a remarkable double-double.
It’s been a massive turnaround for a club that had only won seven titles (in both codes) over the previous 86 years prior to 2019. But the current dominance should be no surprise either given that Naas has a population of over 21,000 and the club has close to 3,000 members. Unlike Newbridge too, which has produced the county’s two most successful clubs in recent years, Sarsfields and Moorefield, Naas is a one-club town.
Given the sheer size and volume of the club now, which caters for close to 100 teams across Gaelic football, hurling, camogie and ladies football, Naas is edging closer to that super-club status which defines so many of those clubs up the M7 in Dublin.
After last year’s All-Ireland Intermediate hurling success Naas are unique now too in that they are one of those rare clubs to have two teams competing in the senior provincial championships in both codes; the hurlers play Shinrone next Saturday in the Leinster quarter-final. If Naas were to win that game, it could possibly set up another clash with Ballyhale Shamrocks in a Leinster semi-final – a raft of players (including Eoin Cody) from that U-16 meeting in 2017 are on both sides.
For now though, Naas’ only focus is Sunday's Leinster quarter-final against Kilmacud Crokes, the side which beat them in last year’s Leinster final. Crokes may be the favourites for the All-Ireland but this is a tricky fixture for them against a side which, similar to themselves, has to be surging with momentum and confidence after winning the double-double.
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