Rollercoaster ride for Carroll and Coolderry

SEVEN days after their greatest ever day, the Coolderry club laid their president to rest.

On the last Sunday in November, Brian Carroll was experiencing unimaginable joy in Nowlan Park and later that night he toasted their maiden Leinster senior club triumph on a magical occasion for the village at the foot of the Slieve Bloom Mountains in South Offaly. On the first Sunday in December, he was at a more sombre event as the funeral mass of his grandmother Angie took place. It was a week of contrasts yet amidst the poignancy, the bond that had swept Coolderry towards a provincial crown was reinforced.

“My grandmother lived for hurling and it was a big thing personally that we managed to win the Leinster championship while she was alive, so we could bring the cup to her.