From little seeds, big things grow

IT was show time for the GAA this week with the cream of Ireland’s clubs taking the stage at Croke Park on St. Patrick’s Day in the All-Ireland senior club finals.

A few weeks ago, off-Broadway so to speak, it was show time again asMeelin and Ballymartle both did Cork proud winning the All-Ireland junior and intermediate club hurling titles, respectively.

All the while, however, off-off-Broadway, little Doneraile have also been flying the flag for Cork, battling their way through to the final tomorrow against Galway’s Ballinderreen of the unofficial All-Ireland Junior B championship, a tournament conceived and hosted by the far-thinking Killeedy club in west Limerick.

“We won the Limerick Junior B title in 2005 but that was it, we couldn’t go any further,” explains Killeedy club secretary Patrick Cremin of the origins of the competition. “We then contacted the GAA authorities in Munster and in Croke Park and asked if we could host a tournament ourselves, and they gave us the go-ahead. Initially it was for Munster counties only, but now we have Galway and Leinster involved as well. This year, we had the champions of Limerick, Cork, Tipperary, Clare and Kerry in Munster, we had Galway competing in Leinster, along with Kilkenny, Dublin, Offaly, Laois and Westmeath, so it has now become a very representative competition. There’s a lot of work involved in it but the whole community is behind it and there is a great buzz in the parish because of it.

“We provide free tea and sandwiches for the teams and supporters afterwards — which you don’t get everywhere! — and the supporters in particular are grateful for that. We find it’s better too when the teams involved are the first teams of their particular clubs, which is the case this year with both Doneraile and Ballinderreen – they bring great support.”

No-one should underestimate the importance of an event like this to the clubs involved. Winning with your own club – no matter how big or small that club happens to be – is still one of the most satisfying achievements for any player.

The prospect of All-Ireland glory is one that has captured the imagination of the picturesque North Cork village.

“It’s something else,” says club President Frank Horgan. “The flags are up, everywhere. When we won the county final, that was special, our first county since 1919 (division three); when we won the Munster final that was something else again, and now this, the All-Ireland final. The team has stayed in training all over the winter. If you were to look at the hurling field it’s a pure bog at the moment from all the training, but even over the snowy months we played challenge matches in Mallow and Ballyhea.

“We beat Killeedy in our first game, then Thurles Sarsfields in the Munster final, Lisdowney of Kilkenny in the semi-final, and now we have just one game left.”

One game away from captain Ross Hunter lifting a fourth championship cup in this long campaign, one game away from being crowned All-Ireland champions. Don’t for an instant underestimate the value of that, to any club, to any community.