Kiladangan star Alan Flynn hopes for provincial club u-turn

Nothing can take away from Kiladangan’s first Tipperary SHC title but Alan Flynn admits a little pang that they are not now preparing for a provincial campaign

Having seen their predecessors Borris-Ileigh reach an All-Ireland final earlier this year, the inter-county defender is disappointed his team has been deprived of that chance to represent the county in Munster.

Flynn said: “I think the Tipp championship is really coming to the fore and it’s a pity there isn’t a Munster championship this year.

“No doubt about it, we’d love to play the likes of Na Piarsaigh, O’Callaghan Mills, Sixmilebridge or Ballygunner, like.

“You don’t know when you will win a county final again. Maybe it (the club championship) might be looked at again and they might play it in January or February if our club tried to push it.

“And I know well Ballygunner would love to push it as well. They have written it off but I’d love if it was put forward again.”

Flynn came on for Tipperary in the 2019 All-Ireland final but nothing compared to his elation after the final whistle on Sunday confirmed victory over Loughmore-Castleiney in the most extraordinary circumstances.

He doesn’t think any other achievement will beat it. “I will hurl probably for another 10 years but I can’t see myself ever topping this

“If I do, I don’t know what way it’s going to go because I don’t know how else you could win a county final like that so dramatically. It was a serious game of hurling for spectators as well and the way the Tipp board have run this off is an absolute credit to them.”

After losing last year’s final by three points, Flynn’s emotions this time around couldn’t have been more different. That loss affected him more than he thought it would.

“I will never forget it, I was down there on the 65 (nods to the other side of the pitch), head in hands and there was a picture of it in The Nenagh Guardian. I actually came across the picture this week and I just said there is no way I can deal with that again.

“I remember I was going back into school teaching that week and I’d say the head wasn’t right for a couple of weeks. It was absolute flush out because you put so much into it and it’s taken away from you on the day.

“We just felt we were working on getting a performance, this isn’t the be-all and end-all, there are other things going on in life, especially in 2020.

“So we just said we’d go out and hurl, we’d go out and do what we can do and if that turns into a result and we bring back a county title, that’s what happens. And if it doesn’t, it doesn’t.”

Not being hard on themselves even when they were accumulating 10 wides like they did in Sunday’s first half was key to their success, Flynn believes.

“That’s been a common theme if you go back to all our games. I think we were racking up 18 wides a game. It was a problem and we weren’t rectifying it.

“We were trying to get it right in training and then we were going into games and it didn’t work, so literally we just said, ‘ we are going to miss those chances.’

“We just accepted we are going to miss chances, but you just keep going.”