Morrissey enjoying Newtown’s new lease of life

IT was American humorist Mark Twain who first made the now famous observation, ‘Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.’

Newtownshandrum senior hurling manager Simon Morrissey — no mean humorist himself — can certainly identify with Twain. A building contractor, as hard a man as ever swung either hurley or hammer, earlier this year Simon got the kind of news that would send shudders down anyone’s spine; “Leukaemia, chemotherapy — when you hear those words, it would shake you alright,” he admits.

Soon the rumour mill cranked into gear and it wasn’t long before he was getting those phonecalls, you know the ones — nervous, fearful, the voice at the other end uncertain of what to say. They are taken aback, saying they’re surprised he sounds so well for a man on the way out.

Well, Simon would like everyone to know — he’s hale, hearty and well on the road to recovery.

There were other stories also, about his beloved Newtownshandrum.

Seven years have passed since they made their breakthrough at senior level in Cork. In that they’ve added two more county senior titles, two Munster crowns and one All-Ireland.

Last year, however, Simon’s first year at the helm, they went down in the county semi-final, beaten by their old friends from Cloyne. The word then was that they were finished, gone, a tired team and that their revolutionary possession game finally sussed. As with Mark Twain, as with Simon Morrissey, that demise has been greatly exaggerated, and on Sunday, Newtown are back in another county final.

So, what has Simon done different this year?

“I got in Liam Ryan as coach and took a back seat myself on that end of things. I’m a firm believer that if you’re with a team for a few years they get tired of hearing the same voice.

“Last year, there was myself, Dan Riordan and Jim Coughlan, but I felt we needed another voice, and that was Liam. He had great ideas from his time with the minors after taking them to the county final last year. I’m delighted with him, he’s doing a fantastic job.”

Three of those minors, Jack Herlihy, Michael Bowles and Ryan Clifford, starred with the Cork team that reached this year’s All-Ireland final and along with several other youngsters, are now pushing for places on the Newtown senior team. That too has made a difference.

“They brought a freshness to the thing. None of the other lads are old but they’ve done a lot of hurling. All these young lads want their places on this team, so they’re pushing the lads already there and that in turn has given the older lads a new lease of life.”

A measure of the progress in Newtown, however, is that where once a Cork minor would have been an automatic on the first team, now he has to fight his corner.

“They have a chance of making the starting 15 on Sunday, but that’s all they have, a chance, the same as everybody else. There’s no special treatment for anyone, they’ll be taken off or brought on as we see fit, depending on what’s happening. But they’re great young fellas who are very committed to the cause.”

How do they react, though, to being taken off, as happened to two of their high-profile starlets in a recent game? “Well you know Dan Riordan, Liam Ryan, Jim Coughlan, myself, Maurice Riordan, our secretary — we’re not very polite men! We have the same respect for everyone but there are days you have to make the hard decisions. It’s grand when it works for you but when it doesn’t, you don’t have to long to wait for the questions — ‘why did you take off Cathal Naughton there, sure he could have won it for us?’ When it works, fine, but when it doesn’t — and sometimes it doesn’t — it’s a very different story. But your head is on the chopping-block all the time!”

They’re hot favourites on Sunday, Newtownshandrum, back in fashion with the pundits; a welcome return to the big-time, agrees Simon, but he’s mystified about the odds.

“I can’t understand it. Newtown played very poorly against Glen Rovers and very poorly against Na Piarsaigh. We improved a bit against Bride Rovers but not to the extent where we should be such hot favourites. I was very impressed with Erin’s Own against the Barr’s last week. They were very committed and showed great bottle to dig out a great result. With three or four minutes to go you’d have said they were gone, but they won by four points.

“If we’re to win this match, we have to get it absolutely right for the hour, we have to be at our best. Erin’s Own are different to Bride Rovers; Bride Rovers are tough, hard, but they don’t have the pace of Erin’s Own.

You could open up Bride Rovers in Páirc Uí Chaoimh but Erin’s Own will stay with us. And they’re big, especially down the centre, very strong, a good keeper, a fast, hurling half-back line, dangerous full-forward line.

And Hero (Kieran Murphy) made a huge difference when he came out to midfield the last day. He’s a very underrated player at county level, in my opinion, and an outstanding club hurler who will always gives his all. We’ve won nothing with these young fellas. We’re up against Erin’s Own, county champions. One thing about Sunday, it will be hurling, hurling, all the way, but they’re going to be very hard to beat.”