Mullins well aware of Dunloy’s potential

UP in Dunloy, there are effigies of Brian Mullins, suspended figures at which the kids take pot-shots.

Mullins you see, was the keeper who kept Birr in last year's All-Ireland club hurling semi-final at a time when the eventual champions were hanging on by their finger-tips.

Four points ahead at the break, the Ulster champions looked set for victory, when they were hit with a double-whammy. A poorly-struck Stephen Browne shot at one end that took a deflection off a defender ended in the Dunloy net, then a well-struck shot at the other end that looked to have Brian Mullins beaten all ends up.

But it didn't. That ball was saved, the keeper instantly became a hero in one club, something else entirely in another. Going on to have a stellar year, becoming sub keeper on the senior county side, it was the making also of Brian Mullins, a fact he readily admits.

"People talk about that save, but I was just lucky, the ball just hit me. Before that, no-one ever said anything about me."

No bullshit there, but then Brian Mullins is very much a no-nonsense kind of individual. Like so many of his Birr team-mates, like so many of the Offaly players in general, there is an honesty about him, even a bluntness, a willingness to tell it like it is.

The sides renew acquaintances in Croke Park on Monday, this time in the All-Ireland final, but Mullins feels that Dunloy did themselves no favours last year in running Birr so close. "If they were facing any other club, that club would be underestimating them, which would be to their advantage. That's not going to happen with us, we know them too well."

Know them so well that for their semi-final win over Mount Sion a good number of the Birr lads made handy money on the outrageous odds being offered on Dunloy. Brian doesn't gamble, but God he came close.

"I fancied them all along, couldn't believe some of the odds against them. It was very tempting." Sounds as if he's afraid of them then? "I don't think I'd go that far, but they are a top-class team, a dangerous team. No, we're not afraid of them, we're looking forward to the challenge. If they beat us, well and good, but it will take a good team to do that."

Better than good, because coach Padjoe Whelehan knows his charges inside out, has this side tuned to a T. It's not just that three of his sons are mainstays on the side, Padjoe knows the whole squad, has had them since they were young fellows, knows now exactly what buttons to hit, and when. He also has them playing a style of hurling that's best suited to them; all-round, according to Brian, he's spot-on.

"Padjoe is very important to this team. First of all his training sessions, hard, sharp, snappy, yet we're all in good shape. Additionally, he's a very good motivator; he knows what makes the boys tick. He doesn't ask for the impossible, for what he knows he can't get. And he plays mind-games. They don't always have an impact, but he certainly had it right the last day (semi-final win over Athenry), with Claffey on Rabbitte. Whenever we play Athenry, and I know Cloonan is a deadly finisher, but it's Rabbitte who does all the damage, outfield, he's the one who supplies the ammunition for Cloonan. We knew if we stopped him, we stopped Athenry.

"With Dunloy, we'll have to come up with a plan to stop Ally Elliott, dangerous player, Gregory O'Kane, then you have the two brothers, the Richmonds, also very good players. A very dangerous set of forwards overall."

Outside of Birr, and probably outside of Loughiel Shamrocks, Dunloy's nearest hurling neighbours, the whole country will be shouting for Dunloy on Monday in Croke Park. Even within parts of Offaly there will be Dunloy supporters, but this is something Brian has no problem in dealing with. If the north Antrim perennial underdogs (and underachievers) were playing anyone but his own side, he too would be on their bandwagon.

"Absolutely, the way it should be really. I'd like to see Dunloy make it, they really deserve something for what they've done over the years. Just not this year. Next year maybe, but not this year."

"History, first hurling club to win four All-Ireland club titles? "Creating history won't be on MY mind anyway history is something you look back on, not forward to. Certainly it's not a spur for me, we just want to win this All-Ireland. Afterwards, you can look back all you want. This is going to be a real game, no doubt about it."