Woodlock’s winning dream

HE IS sick and tired of losing, is James Woodlock, sick of waiting around on the field and watching the winners already well into their celebrations as they accept the cup, tired of the feeling that evening, the next day, the next week, the feeling that just eats and gnaws its way into your marrow.

“I’ve lost two senior county finals, two county U21 A finals, an All-Ireland senior final, an All-Ireland U21 final, Mid (Tipp) finals, two minor A county finals,” he says, listing them off, “I’ve lost enough. I’m sick of losing and there’s no place for losers’ medals anywhere.”

The worst of all came a few weeks ago, the All-Ireland final, beaten by Kilkenny on a day when Tipperary couldn’t seem to buy a break. That was the culmination of not just one, but two years of ferocious effort in Tipperary, and of all the players, James took the defeat particularly hard. That he works as a Garda in Kilkenny hasn’t helped his recovery either, but then again, “Going around with two flags out the window (the week beforehand), I didn’t do myself any favours I suppose,” he says, wryly, “I was hoping to be going around the week afterwards with them as well!”

There was no rest either after that All-Ireland final; James is captain of his club, Drom & Inch, and this Sunday, having seen off the challenges of Borris-Ileigh and Toomevara in recent weeks, they face Thurles Sarsfields in the Tipperary senior hurling county final. Normally, and as happened for John Mullane in Waterford last year, those wins would offer consolation to an inter-county player who has just suffered a major loss. Not for James though. “It doesn’t make up for it at all,” he says, brutally candid, and then – to drive it home – repeats it; “Under no circumstances does getting to a county final make up for it. County hurling and club hurling are two different things.”

The pain, then, is still very raw, and still very evident. All that will have to be put aside this Sunday, however, if Drom & Inch are to win this, their first senior title. The two losses referred to by James above came very recently, in 2005 (against Sars) and again in 2007, against Loughmore-Castleiney, on a day when Drom were well favoured to win out. James was there on both occasions: “In 2005 I thought we were outstanding in the county final, as a young team (he was only 19 himself). In 2007, we didn’t show up, but our form all year suggested that. We lost our first game in the Mid championship, we were poor all through but we got to a county final. Everybody had us hyped up but we didn’t play. We haven’t been outstanding this year either, one good performance against Toome, who missed chances on the day and didn’t turn up. We’re gaining experience all of the time and hopefully it will stand to us, but we won’t be looking back to finals that we’ve lost.”

Looking forward then, that’s James, thinking about one thing – winning: “Being captain, bringing back the Dan Breen Cup for the first time would be huge. But there’s no doubting the task ahead of us and going through the programme, Sars have all the big names – we don’t. There’s a great rivalry there – they pipped us twice in 2005, in the Mid and county finals. They knocked us out again last year in the county quarter-final so they’re our bogey team, though we did beat them in the Mid final last year. It brings the best out of us when we play Sars but they’ll be favourites and deservedly so.” Favourites they are, right enough, with the bookies anyway, but deservedly so? Didn’t Drom & Inch knock out Toomevara – reigning champions and favourites again year – in the semi-final? Shouldn’t that be taken into account? “We played well against them – we had to. But they were county champions and it was easy enough to get up for them. We came off the back of a mediocre performance against Borris so, against Toome, we gave it everything, but we were lucky enough to come out with the victory. We played okay, but have to improve again to win a county final.”

Not a guy feeling very happy in his skin, wouldn’t you think? But there’s an old proverb, ‘I used to complain that I had no shoes, ‘til I met a man who had no feet.’ Losing an All-Ireland final is painful, no doubt about it, as is losing a county final, at any level – but what of the guy who doesn’t even get a chance to play? Eamonn Buckley, club and county team-mate of James Woodlock, was in line for a year of glory this year, but injury intervened, costing him his chance with both Tipperary and Drom & Inch. James has seen, up close and personal, the effect it’s had on Eamonn. “I’ve never seen a man so devastated in all my life. He comes to the training and he’s there but he hasn’t the energy even to drive us on. We played a challenge match, he got a belt and that’s the way it goes, he’s gone.

“He has the cast on for another four weeks minimum – it’s such a disappointment that we don’t have him on the big day.” Something to remember, then, as he leads his troops into what will certainly be a battle – isn’t it a positive to be in the fight at all?