‘We were afraid of repeating failure of other years’

FEAR of defeat inspired Toomevara to an amazing comeback against Na Piarsaigh.

Nine times in the last 12 years the Tipperary champions have set out on the rocky road to All-Ireland club success. Only once (1993) have they managed to get out of Munster.

Eleven points to seven behind at the break yesterday, it was looking ominous again for Toomevara. Cue the heroics by man-of-the-match Eoin Brislane and company.

“Yeah, the doubt was always there and we were afraid of repeating the failure of other years. Thank God we’ve got past that now, it’s a monkey off our backs. We’ll go on now to the Munster final and hopefully we can win it. It’s about time.”

While they don’t appreciate the criticism (understandably), no-one is more aware of Toomevara’s under-performance in Munster than the players. This year, though, Brislane and Toomevara have had enough.

“I said to the Na Piarsaigh full-back at the finish, ‘don’t begrudge us this one.’ We’re here for the last ten years trying to win a Munster, and every year everyone was saying we were failures.

“That was driving us on, and this year more than any we’ve got the panel to do it. We’re a better team, a stronger team with excellent subs, and that’s key.”

A little introspection at the break was another difference.

“We sat down and got our thoughts together,” explained Kenny Dunne, one of the heroes of the recovery.

“We all had to examine ourselves, we just didn’t perform in the first half.

I don’t know what we’d expected from Na Piarsaigh coming out, but they were a seriously good hurling team and they beat us to every ball in the first half.

“We knew we could up it in the second half, we’re a good second half team, and when we came out we knew we had to give it everything. Lucky enough we got a goal early on which set us on our way.”

That goal was Ken’s, set up by a long ball from Brislane which tied the game. Afterwards, Toomevara never looked back.

“Absolutely no complaints,” said Piarsaigh coach Joe O’Leary of the loss. “Toomevara were superb on the day; physically they just blew us out of it. Experience-wise, they’ve been here before many times. But it’s been nine years since we played in Munster and only three of this team were involved. “The way we look on it, we had a wonderful year, winning the Cork county final, and hopefully that’s going to be a springboard for us.

“Hopefully also it will be a springboard for Toomevara. We don’t begrudge them this, they’re a nice crowd. We play them almost yearly in challenge matches and have a good rapport with them.

“Tommy Dunne and Tony Delaney at full-back have been around for a while and I hope they end up with a Munster medal at least or an All-Ireland club. The best of luck to them.”

Prior to yesterday it had been a superb week for Sean Óg Ó hAilpín. Last Sunday he won a Cork SHC medal and was named the GPA player of the year on Friday night.

He was brought back to terra firma with a bang however, a bang in the forehead that required a nest of stitches.

Still, the Na Piarsaigh star wasn’t too downbeat.

“When Ken Dunne got his goal to level it, the crowd got behind them and they were just too powerful in the end. But it’s been a good year and anything after the county final was a bonus.

“One to fifteen, Toomevara are a great bunch of hurlers, far more seasoned at this level than we are, and it showed.

“Our aim now is to build on this for next year. It’s been a problem for us that if we win the championship we go into hibernation for a few years, but we have a good foundation of young lads coming through.

They’re the future of this club. That’s our main aim now, try and stay on top for a few years.”

Speaking of the future, will Sean Óg be the next captain of Cork?

“I don’t know, that’s for another day. If I’m privileged enough to get it, that’s great, I’d be delighted, but if I don’t, not to worry. It’s immaterial to me at this stage, what matters to me is that Cork retain the All-Ireland title, and Na Piarsaigh retain the title in Cork.”