Learning from close encounters

In a unique position to assess the relative strengths and weaknesses of the two finalists in the All-Ireland club senior hurling final in Croke Park this Sunday are PJ O’Mullan and Seamus Quinn.

PJ O’Mullan is the manager of the 2012 champions, Loughgiel Shamrocks, beaten after a replay by St Thomas’s (Galway), while Seamus manages Thurles Sars, turned over by Kilcormac/Killoughey (Offaly).

First to O’Mullan, and his take on St Thomas’s. “They’re a very young side, very fresh, very keen, very committed — I think we ran out of legs eventually against them. They’re also a very tight-knit team but that would be because they come from such a small community. You have all the family links, the six Burke brothers, the cousins — they’re a team that will die for each other. They have a tremendous work-rate right throughout the field.”