Sheedy’s magic works again

“Championés, championés” – that was the cry from the Newmarket-on-Fergus dressing-room following Sunday’s Clare SHC final as the players celebrated the storied club’s first county title in 31 years.

It would also have been the cry in the De La Salle dressing-room a couple of weeks ago after they had beaten Dungarvan in the Waterford final, and in the Portroe dressing-room after the underdogs had toppled mighty Toomevara to claim their first North Tipperary senior hurling title.

The common denominator in all three wins? Former All-Ireland-winning Tipperary manager Liam Sheedy, coach to Portroe, adviser to the two others. Sheedy’s ability was always appreciated in Portroe, his home club, but in Waterford and in Clare, the players of both De La Salle and of Newmarket were both fulsome in their praise and grateful for his input, none more so than Newmarket captain Enda Barrett.