Corbett urges Sars to take final step
And yet, for all that impressive history, Sars have won just one county title in the past 34 years, in 2005. For a town so rich in hurling heritage, origin of such luminaries as Jimmy Doyle, Tommy Doyle, Rattler Byrne, Tony Wall, John Maher, that’s a poor recent return.
Tomorrow in Semple Stadium they get an opportunity to get things back on track. However they are up against the mighty Toomevara, their nearest challengers on the honour roll with 20 titles, 10 picked up since 1992.
Sars contested four finals in a row from 2000 to 2003 (inclusive) — their conquerors on three of those occasions? Toomevara. If ever one team owed another, then Thurles Sarsfields surely owe Toomevara, owe them not once, but thrice. It’s a debt that Sars star forward Lar Corbett would love to see repaid.
“Toomevara have so many top-class players, and when they come into Semple Stadium they’re a different team. They up their game every time they come to that ground.
“They might be gone for a year but they’re always back again the year after. Look at us, we won a county title in 2005 and we haven’t reached a final since. We haven’t put anything with that title, even though we reached four finals in a row before that. It’s time to stand up and be counted.”
Stand up, and finally beat Toomevara in county final? “That’s right. They beat us in three finals but we’re delighted now to be meeting them again. They were one team we could never get over in the final, so if we could do it this week it would make it extra special.
“Everyone knows they’re the best, everyone wants to go out and beat them; the whole county wants to see them bet, and still they’re able to stand up and be counted, year after year. Now, we have to do the same.”
They have already withstood two huge character tests in the two semi-final games against neighbours and fierce rivals Clonoulty-Rossmore, two games in which Sarsfields were on the brink of elimination but fought back to tie, then ultimately, to win.
“Clonoulty are a good team, very underestimated,” says Corbett. “We were very lucky to get the draw the first day, very lucky again to get the draw the second day in normal time. It went to extra-time then and lucky enough we had the fitness, Sarsfields have been training hard since the start of the year and that stood to us.”
It was a goal by Lar in that extra-time that really sealed the deal for Sars, but the real star was Pa Bourke, a youngster for whom Lar has long predicted a huge future.
“It was a well-worked goal but it was made by Pa — he sent it in to me and I was just in the right place, at the edge of the square. He’s a fantastic hurler, very dedicated; when he was a youngster, you never saw Pa without a hurley in his hand, he was always hitting a ball off a wall somewhere.”
It’s not just the likes of Pa and Lar who have been doing the business for Sars; off the bench in those two games came the experienced duo Richie Ruth and Johnny Enright, and on both occasions — the replay especially — both contributed handsomely.
“When you look at Toomevara, the strength in depth they still have even with the likes of Tommy Dunne, Rory Brislane, George Frend, Phillip Shanahan all gone, that’s when you need the likes of Richie and Johnny to come off the bench; they’re so important to us — eight points they scored between them the last day.”
Corbett had a new role this year, with both club and county, a more roving commission, well away from his usual slot in around the kitchen. It suits him too, and against Clonoulty he was occasionally to be found helping out back in his own half-back line.
“The club were playing me on the wing and at centre-forward, then in the second half of the drawn game they put me at midfield. To be honest I like that, you’re more involved in the play when you’re further out the field, you’re not just waiting for the ball to be sent in to you. I find that often at full-forward you’re out of the play a lot, but even with Tipp this year I enjoyed coming out the field.”
It’s a role that could see Lar coming up against fellow countyman Benny Dunne — a highly-rated centre-back inside Tipperary, a battle that could well be worth the admission fee on its own. As it should be at this level, this is a hard one to call.
Neither side impressed in the semi-final double-header a couple of weeks ago, though Sars did make amends somewhat in their replay victory. Could well be, however, that what Lar most fears, that old doggedness and will-to-win that Toomevara seem to have perfected in Semple Stadium, will once again haunt the home side.
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