Curran out as Mullinahone look to end Kerry reign

TIPPERARY senior hurler Paul Curran will miss his club Mullinahone’s Munster IFC final against Kerry outfit Milltown/Castlemaine next Sunday as he is away on his honeymoon.

Curran was part of the travelling party in San Francisco for last Sunday’s GAA/GPA All Stars match and has since departed for Australia and New Zealand, which rules him out of the match in Mallow.

“We’ve no problem with Paul’s decision as he’s given a huge amount to the club this year,” revealed Mullinahone manager Jackie Bolger.

“Paul and his wife are both teachers and they’ve this trip organised with a long time. It’d be hard for them to find a few weeks off in the new year, so they’ve gone on to Australia and New Zealand.

“Paul’s been fantastic for Mullinahone this year. You consider one weekend, himself, his three brothers and his brother-in-law all trained with us on the Thursday night, then were at Paul’s wedding on the Friday, attended Mullinahone’s county minor hurling final on the Saturday and then helped us beat Emly in the county intermediate football final on the Sunday. But Eoin Kelly was back on the field training with us on Wednesday night after returning from San Francisco.”

The modern narrative of Mullinahone GAA club is weaved around tales of the hurling exploits of their county stars but there is a rich football history in the club as they claimed five Tipperary senior football titles between 1912 and 1929.

“The club was predominantly a football one for a long time,” said Bolger.

“We’d have provided players to Tipp football teams regularly until the 1940s. The modern day hurling success would have kicked off in 1988 with the advent of John Leahy who was on a team that won an U21B county double.

“Since then hurling has been the main game but in 2000 and 2006 we won county intermediate football titles and an U21B football title in 2009.”

2011 has already been a magical season for the club with the Tipperary IFC title accompanied by an historic county MAHC crown. And the prospect of claiming provincial honours has consumed the thoughts of the south Tipperary village.

“We’ll have a man travelling on the bus with us on Sunday called Tony Nolan whose father played in Bloody Sunday in Croke Park,” outlined Bolger.

“When we beat Dungarvan in the semi-final, he had tears in his eyes at the thought of a Mullinahone team in a Munster football final. And we’re the first Tipp team to be in an intermediate final.

Since the competition was inaugurated in 2003, Kerry clubs have won five titles (Ardfert ‘06, Annascaul ‘07, St Michaels Foilmore ‘08, Spa 09, Gneeveguilla ‘10) with Cork the only other county to have a club win it.