Curran hopes Clare shed tears this time
And yet, there was a time when the sight of that Clare saffron-and-blue was enough to reduce Paul to tears. However, he was only a young fella and he had good cause, Tipperary beaten in an All-Ireland final by Clare and a clubman of his own, the great John Leahy, missing a ‘goalden’ chance at the death to win it.
“I remember 1997, the All-Ireland final, coming home crying after it, John (Leahy) missing that chance — you could feel the rivalry up in the stands. I was 15 or 16 (just short of 16, actually, a November baby).”
That was when things were really hot and heavy between Tipp and Clare, between the rival sets of supporters especially, the bridge over the river Shannon linking/dividing Killaloe and Ballina a real flashpoint.
Living in Mullinahone, Paul was a long way removed from the day-to-day interaction of those along that border area but the feelings were still strong.
“Different lads have different rivalries depending on where you live — I’d be more on the Kilkenny border, around Roscrea it would be Offaly. I wouldn’t say we hated them, it was dislike, passionate dislike!
“My early memories are of Tipp-Cork in 91, but also Tipp-Clare of 95/96/97. Even in 2001, when I came on the panel, Tipp and Clare matches were still hot and heavy. What I remember about Clare is the physical presence they had.”
Funny thing, and this will seem a daft statement to make, but that physicality was in the stands as well. When Clare and Tipp took the field in those days — first one side, then the other — the roar that greeted them when they emerged from the tunnel was near violent, the waves of sound near physical.
It certainly left an impression on Curran, a lasting impression.
“Yeah, my debut was against Clare, 2003, they gave us a right pasting down in Cork (2-17 to 0-14). I remember running out on to the pitch and the noise hit me, I was taken aback by it. I didn’t have a good experience that day — I had been due to go to America, my last year in college, and maybe I should have gone!
Phillip Maher did his cruciate, I had opted out but they said, ‘come in for a training session or two’; I did but sure once I got in, I couldn’t say no then.”
Times have changed, however, the steam has gone out of Clare and Tipperary are very much back where they had been for so many decades before the Clare glory days of 90s — on top.
A lot of the steam has gone from the Munster championship as well.
“I’d say it has,” Curran agrees, “The crowds are really down, and they’re talking of only 17,000 to 20,000 for this one. I don’t know what’s going to happen; people are fighting to retain the Munster championship, and it is important. There should be a decent crowd for this one, it should be a good game.”
Surely this is a game Tipp should be winning fairly comfortably?
Perhaps, but Curran isn’t going to be saying that, or anything like it!
“There’s a lot of talk about them being Division Two but there’s too much made of that. The league is a completely different competition — our own league was kind of indifferent but a lot of people say, ‘oh Tipp are Division One, Clare are Division 2.
“That will have no bearing on it whatsoever. Every time Tipp play Clare that rivalry is there, never much between us.
“We know Clare play a similar style to Tipp, let the ball in fast and then go fight for it. We know what’s ahead of us.”
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
