Battle-hardened veterans keeping eyes on the prize
Full-forward for Garryspillane, seeking his first medal in his 20th senior season for the Bouncers, Frankie Carroll; at the opposite end, full-forward for Kilmallock, also in his 20th senior season and surrounded by a gaggle of youngsters, Mike Houlihan. The difference is that with wins in 1992 and 1994 Mike is chasing his third medal.
In fairness, it should be pointed out that when Frankie started with Garryspillane, winning senior titles was a fairly distant ambition.
“A long way off. The Well (Patrickswell) were very strong at the time, well ahead of everyone. You’d be hoping, trying, but there was a big gap. Kilmallock came on then in the ‘90s, won a couple of counties. We went down intermediate for a while, in the late ‘80s, won it in 1990, again in 1996, so it was the intermediate championship we were more concerned about, that was our level.
“We were always short two or three, but the real reason we’re winning at the moment is that we’re combined, Garryspillane and Knocklong. We’d have had the area alright before that, but not the population.”
Last year could have been the year; against all odds, coached in the latter part of the season by Tony Considine, they reached the county final and drew level twice in injury-time, only to be beaten by a late, disputed free.
“Once the ball started rolling, people forgot about last year. Our problem had been that traditionally we were late starters, but we got started earlier this year, Tony (Considine) was on board from the start, and that has made a difference.”
This year Garryspillane are the only unbeaten team in a championship that began in a round-robin format. Kilmallock, however, represent a huge challenge. Everyone knows they’re the coming team. Last year, Garryspillane beat them by a point in the semi-final; this year Kilmallock have come a step further. If Garryspillane are to beat them, this is the year.
“One hundred percent right,” Frankie agrees. “They’ve had fierce success in the minors for the last four years, U-21; a lot of those lads are 17, 18, 19, but give them another couple of years, they could take over.”
Mike Houlihan points out that there are no guarantees, however.
“You can have all the crop you like, but pride is more important, and how you harvest that crop. Anyway, you can only pick 15; far more important is that they always take a bit of pride in their hurling in Kilmallock.”
The current crop? “They’re good, they’ve done the minor double this year, hurling and football, something that wasn’t done since we did it in 1987.”
Most neutral support will be for the Bouncers; fair enough, reckons Mike.
“Everyone likes to see a club win their first, but whether it’s your first or your last, you compete. Who’s to say I’m not going to win another county title - you play to win, don’t you?
“They have Tony Considine on board, they have the players from the county team (brothers TJ and Donie Ryan), big people, they lost it last year by a point, the bookies have them as favourites, a lot of money gone on them, so the pressure is all on them to perform; to win your first especially, that’s a big pressure.”
They’re 20 years on the go but still doing the business: Mike notched a couple of critical points in Kilmallock’s semi-final win over Patrickswell, while Frankie was his usual unerring free-scoring, ball-winning self against Croom. These two stalwarts are both still enjoying their hurling.
Says Mike: “To see your father hurling is important to me, and I have a couple of young fellas coming up, Colin and Miceál, eight and five, and a daughter, Clodagh, playing a bit of camogie with the school.”
Frankie is also enjoying himself: “The training is tough, but when things are going well, you don’t mind that, it’s actually enjoyable. Whether you’re 21 or 35 or 36, if you’re in a county senior final, you have to enjoy it, don’t you?”
Don’t we all?
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