Enright and Gleeson out to down Newtown

IT was a monkey on their backs for decades. Up to the early 1970’s, Thurles Sarsfields were a powerhouse in Tipperary hurling. In 1974 they won the championship for 28th time and the good times looked set to roll on.

Alas, that was not the case and 31 barren years followed before in 2005, having lost four finals in-a-row, Sars once again reigned supreme in Tipperary.

With a seasoned but still relatively young side, that should again have been the first of many, but several more seasons of frustration followed. But that was righted on last Sunday week, when against neighbours Drom & Inch, Thurles won their second Tipperary SHC title of this decade, their 30th in all. The man who accepted the Dan Breen Cup was Johnny Enright, one of only a few remaining from the 2005 success while their manager Michael Gleeson was a member of the 1974 team.

Enright pinpoints two major reasons for this year’s success. He said: “We went up to Lavey in Derry about eight weeks ago and that was probably the turning of the corner, the springboard for what has happened since. After that we had five games in six weeks, that’s the best way to hurl — to get wins under your belt.”

Gleeson agreed: “Having games coming in quick succession like that is an advantage, it keeps the interest keen. The big thing for us was that after the All-Ireland was over we knew exactly where we stood with a game a week to get to the county final.

“We knew too we’d have a full panel for training, barring injuries, with the four county boys back full-time with us (Lar Corbett, Pádraic Maher, Pa Bourke and Michael Cahill) and that was a huge advantage.

“It’s very difficult to keep the interest over the summer, guys have other things to do, some have young families or are trying to plan holidays. Once we got to the knockout stage though it was all about getting to the next round.

“We had a nice run, we beat Knockavilla, we beat Kilruane, came from way behind to beat Nenagh in a game where we were really put to the pin of our collar. And we played well against Upperchurch Drombane (in the semi-final).”

It meant Sars were through to another Tipp final, and duly did the business against a disappointing Drom & Inch. Now it’s on to the next challenge, Cork champions Newtownshandrum in Thurles on Sunday.

“I don’t know much about them,” admitted Gleeson. “But I know they have the Ger Cunningham style, a running game, isn’t it?”

Well, yes, but that was the Newtown style long before Ger Cunningham got involved in the unforgettable 2003/04 season, when the Limerick native led the club to Munster and All-Ireland glory. The ‘running game’ as it’s been dubbed was actually developed by Bernie O’Connor, father of the four O’Connor brothers who now form part of the Newtown panel.

A running game it is too, but it’s a lot more than that – it’s based on possession, on intelligent use of every ball and it’s based on fitness, on every player being able to run at pace for long distances and for long periods.

An impressive work-rate is how Kilkenny coped when Cork adapted the Newtown style to win All-Ireland titles in 2004 and 05 and work-rate is exactly what this Sars team has according to their manager.

He said: “If you were told on the Sunday morning that we’d score only 14 points (against Drom & Inch), and that Larry Corbett wouldn’t score at all, you’d doubt we’d win, yet that’s exactly what happened.

“Work-rate, that’s what won it for us, and few worked harder than Larry; the way he tracked Seamus Callanan back in the first-half, then hooked him. That was setting down a marker. We didn’t score much, but that was definitely our best performance this year, the work-rate especially, and that’s what we were stressing all week. We knew we had better hurlers than Drom, we knew they’d come in hard — and they did — but we stood up to it.”

They did, but they’re going to need all that again, and then some, to overcome Newtownshandrum, and in that respect they are blessed to have Enright in their ranks. For several seasons in the early part of the decade, and even while still playing in Tipperary with Thurles Sarsfields, Enright was also one of the stars with UCC in Cork, at a time when Newtownshandrum had just made their senior breakthrough.

Given all that, he is very familiar with what faces Sars on Sunday.

“Yeah, of course I am. The last time Sarsfields won the county (2005) we met Newtown as well (in the Munster club); I remember we got a great start but they had that bit more experience than us at that level, turned it around. We’re determined to do better this time. In 2005 we were probably happy just to have won the county — that’s not the case now.”