Sheedy proves to be the pride of Portroe

I WAS in Ciss Ryan’s fabled pub in Garrykennedy three years ago on a special celebratory evening.

We were there by accident. It was the evening when local clubman and former county star Liam Sheedy had been selected as the new Tipperary manager. It was also the evening in which his club had escaped relegation by the skin of their teeth.

Sheedy played his part in that game too. The club always comes top of the hurlers’ list. Ryan’s was packed to the rafters with relieved Portroe hurlers and there was Sheedy in the midst of them. There was a lot of singing and dancing and music by the shores of Lough Derg that evening but I clearly remember some local saying to me that their man had inherited a kind of poisoned chalice in taking on the manager’s job.