'We have broken the mould', says Charlie McGeever

Charlie McGeever is adamant when making his point; had Clonmel Commercials left Mallow empty-handed yesterday evening it would have been nothing short of a grave injustice.

The Clonmel Commercials manager was annoyed that Michael Quinlivan was not awarded a penalty after 39 minutes for what he believed was a clear foul on the full- forward. Thankfully, he added, it was downgraded from the main talking point to mere footnote such was Quinlivan’s injury time heroics.

“I would have thought it would have been an injustice had we lost based on the penalty we should have had. We didn’t want that to be the deciding factor in the game,” said McGeever.

“It was a clear foul on Michael. I think everybody here would tell you it was a foul. He was in on goal and it was clear cut. We don’t need to talk about it because we got the goal at the end and we got our result.”

Despite trailing by two points entering the final 30 seconds, McGeever didn’t believe the game was up for his side.

“It is never gone when you have Michael Quinlivan, to be fair. I thought Nemo’s dominance was the last seven or eight minutes where their experience and composure showed. They kicked on and went two points ahead.

“Down the straight is somewhere where our boys haven’t been before at this level. This is not the first time this year we have pulled it out of the fire. This team have pulled it out of the bag in the county final, in the Munster quarter-final and again today. There is no way the spirit of this team is ever broken.

“It was an exciting game. I thought it was a great game of football played in awful conditions. Both teams played football right the way through. I thought our ball handling was excellent all the way through.

“We knew we had the legs, we knew if we kept going we’d have the legs and I think all we needed was a bit of belief with those legs. And we had it. My God, what belief in a crowd of young lads.”

Following on from the county’s Munster U21 success earlier in the year and the minor team reaching the All-Ireland final, McGeever said this was another huge step in the progression of Tipperary football.

“We have broken the mould as no Tipperary club has ever won this competition. We have mirrored ourselves on Tipperary in the sense that there are so many crossovers between the players and the age profile is roughly the same. It shows you the work that is being done.

“This is a win for Tipperary because nearly everybody that is contributing to Tipperary is contributing to Commercials. These lads have been immersed in Tipperary football since the age of 12 under Brian White, Tommy Kelly, Martin Quinlivan and others. They have developed a style of play and that group has been together for 12 years. Hopefully, they will kick on from here.Today was absolutely magnificent. It is one of those great days.”