Teamwork the key at tug of war championships

Teamwork and big hearts are the key, writes Larry Ryan

They came from all over to northwest Cork on Sunday to test powerful legs, vise grips, and iron wills.

The latest round of the All-Ireland Tug of War championships produced a formidable show of strength at the Donoughmore venue — not least in the thousands who gathered to yell encouragement as octets of Samsons glared into each other’s souls across 36m lengths of rope.

There were treatments and tricks of the trade. Resins and concoctions and sometimes plain old carpet glue for the hands. Modified ski boots abandoned their natural calling and instead dug in and held their ground.

But the people who know the game conceded there’s not much artificial assistance available for the puller’s most important asset — the heart. The fight has to be in the man or woman already.

“Mental strength is just as important as physical strength,” said Bill Keogh, coach of Boley from Wexford and one of the legendary set of Keogh brothers that once pulled the best men the world could assemble on the other end of a rope.

“Hand grip is vital,” agreed Eamonn Buckley from the host club. “And the legs must take the strain. But the most important thing is you have to want it.”

Neither man has yet found a hiding place. “In football or hurling, you might be able to hide a weak fellow in at corner back or wherever,” said Eamonn.

“Or a couple of exceptional talents might carry a team,” added Bill.

“But here, no individual is more important. And the weakest link on a team will crack,” said Eamonn.

The coaches prowl the rope calling when to hold and when to hit. If there’s more in a man, they will find it; coax it or goad it out of them. These lads know when to empty the tank. Turn it over. Anchor. Push it. Drive it. Drive it. Now. Now, now. Now.

And they know the pullers on the far side nearly as well as their own.

“You either get to know them or you don’t win,” says Bill.

Boley knew Sunday’s final opponent very well. The top division was in the 600kg class. Slight goliaths. Around 75kg a man on the rope. The Boley boys wore down a gallant effort from the home pullers — a coming force — in the semi-final, before facing their old rivals, Lakehill from Mayo, in the decider.

On opposite ends of the rope yesterday, many of them pulled together at the world championships in Columbia a fortnight ago as the two clubs dominated the Irish selection.

The Mayo team had a setback the night before. When the eight starters climbed onto the official scales, they tipped them 2kg over the limit. Naturally, the group took the strain together — they were running around the field for 45 minutes before they came back without the excess.

The Boley boys, meanwhile, spent three hours ‘drying out’ in a sauna in Fermoy, sweating it just right.

Facing each other the next day, rehydrated, back to the peak of their powers, the rivals put on a showcase of controlled, synchronised aggression.

Best of three.

An early heave from Lakehill at the start of the opening end took five feet out of the Wexford men. If a weak link was there, he’d crack now. But Boley held on and slowly make ground. It took about five minutes to gain the four metres they need. Before the second end, Mayo needed the scales again. A sub. The new man must weigh less than the one coming out. The new man made the weight, but he couldn’t turn the tables. Boley took it in three minutes.

“We had a slight edge” Keogh said afterwards. “But only slight.”

There was a good spread of glory on the day in a sport that has tentacles in most parts of the country. A hat-trick for the Boyneside club from Offaly in Men’s Division Two and Ladies 405kg and 435kg. The novice category went to ‘The Shop’ from Thurles, while an impressive Rathkeale outfit produced some mighty pulls to take the youths section.

But everyone who held a rope went home knowing that little bit more about themselves.