We’ll give it a lash, says St Pat’s boss

NORMALLY, a county title win provides the impetus to go on to win a provincial championship.

St Patrick’s of Tipperary, however, are hoping for the opposite impact.

Due to the fact that clubs’ second teams are not allowed to participate in provincial competition, the club from the parish of Drangan & Cloneen are representing Tipperary in tomorrow’s Munster JHC final against Cork champions Meelin (Mallow, 2pm) despite having lost in the county quarter-final to Kilruane McDonagh.

Now, while they are just 60 minutes away from winning the title, it could have been very different, as manager Eugene McCormack outlines.

“We very nearly didn’t field after losing to Kilruane,” he says. “Everyone was down, but once we beat Ballylooby-Castlegrace, things picked up again. We had an eye on a Munster semi-final if we beat Emly and that’s the way it turned out.”

It’s rare that sides in a junior provincial semi-final would be familiar with each other, but again St Patrick’s bucked the trend.

“We had a bit of controversy after a South Tipp semi-final,” McCormack says. “So we were finding it hard to get challenge matches and had to play Ballydurn from Waterford.

“Then we ended up playing them in Munster, so we both knew each other. Thankfully we kept our composure.”

Now a challenge with Meelin awaits in Sunday’s final in Mallow. The manager is taking a dual-focused approach.

“We’ll give it a lash,” he says. “I wouldn’t know too much about Meelin but any team that comes out of Cork is good. We’ve a young team, with nine U21s and it’s a funny thing that winning Munster might give us the momentum to go on in the county next year. The way the economy is, it’s hard to keep a team together. We’re bringing lads over from England. But it’s all worth it if you win something.”

Meelin are also unfamiliar with this stage of the competition.

Football has been the dominant sport in the division in north-west Cork, but good showings in the county minor and U21 championships, where Duhallow compete as one, have improved standards. Manager Liam Ryan is optimistic about this next challenge.

“It’s bonus territory,” he says, “but when you train for something you want to win it. For a lot of our players, this is the best chance they’ll have to play in Croke Park, and while a bit away, it’s a great opportunity.”

Though favourites, Ryan is not taking anything for granted.

“People wouldn’t have taken notice of us until we won a game or two in the county,” he says. “Now we’re being told St Patrick’s aren’t county champions and are only representatives, but they’ve every bit of a chance of winning Munster as we do. It’ll be 50-50, we’re just hoping our fellas get their heads right and put in a big effort.”