Divided clans chasing victory

Throw a sliotar across a field in the vicinity of any of the communities which nestle against the Kilkenny/ Tipperary border and you’re likely to hit someone who supports one county but is married to, works with, or is friends with, someone from the other side.

Take the Bolgers, who live in Poulacapple on the Tipperary side, and are a classic “mixed marriage”, in hurling terms. Jackie Bolger is originally from Mullinahone, also in Tipperary, and has been linked with the club of Eoin Kelly and Paul Curran all his life; while his wife Tina Bolger is from Callan.

“I’m Tipp, very much so, and she’s a Kilkenny woman,” says Jackie Bolger.