Minor cup would get special welcome at Carrig & Riverstown - the Offaly club in Tipp

OFFALY ABÚ: Young Offaly Supporters from Ballinamere/Durrow are going to Nolan Park in Force there will be no mistaking who they will be shouting for. Photo: Ger Rogers

Geography places them in the Premier County, but their blood runs across the border.

Carrig & Riverstown, which is situated just out the road from the town of Birr, is one of those unique GAA clubs with an address in one county but affiliated to another.

Their Eircode reads Tipperary, but it is in Offaly they hurl, and it is Offaly they will follow to Nowlan Park tomorrow.

Founded in 1933, the club, despite being based on the Tipperary side of the border, have always plied their trade next door.

Carrig & Riverstown’s location along the Offaly-Tipperary border means the club will forever draw a degree of interest on weeks such as this, but the uniqueness of their conflicting address and affiliation moves into a different stratosphere when the Tipp-Offaly game in question is an All-Ireland minor final - a competition Offaly has not won in 33 years - and the club is represented both on the starting team and among the management personnel.

The first two names on the Offaly team sheet - goalkeeper Liam Hoare and corner-back Caelum Larkin - hail from Carrig & Riverstown, while another of their own, Martin Cashin, is not only part of Leo O’Connor’s backroom team but was instrumental in bringing him up the road from Limerick to get involved with the Faithful underage set-up three years ago.

Ger Oakley is another proud son of Carrig & Riverstown, the former midfielder having worn the green, white, and gold from the late nineties all the way through to 2010.

“The whole place would love to see the two boys get on well on Sunday, the place is behind them,” Oakley begins.

“I suppose it has changed since my day. There was a bit of adversity and whatnot when I was there. That seems to be all gone now. There is lots of goodwill around the place, lots of flags, posters and signs out. The build up is good for them and it is great to see.

“I ran into the two boys during the week and they are doing the same thing they were doing last week, they are out working with their fathers and doing bits of jobs for the summer. There is no sitting back, they are two honest chaps.” 

Oakley’s wife is an aunt to Caelum Larkin, while he coached Liam Hoare for six years in Carrig primary school. Put simply, he’s watched the pair develop from the youngest of ages.

“Anytime you see them, nine times out of ten they will have a hurl in their hand. I’ve known Caelum since he was knee-high to a grasshopper and all memories I have of him is with a hurl in his hand.

“They are two dedicated lads and to win this weekend would be a huge achievement for them because I have seen how much they have put in over the years.” 

Another hopeful of the Irish Press Cup crossing the border into Tipperary, but for different reasons, is James Woodlock.

The Premier minor boss wouldn’t have minded his players getting a spin out in Croke Park this weekend, but given his own playing memories of the 2013 hurling qualifier between Tipp and Kilkenny in front of more than 23,000 at Nowlan Park, a game Woodlock lined out at midfield for, he’s excited for what his players will experience in front of a 27,000 sell-out at the Kilkenny venue.

“It is harsh on the minors from a developmental point of view in terms of the experience they would gain in Croke Park before an All-Ireland senior semi-final. That experience has been taken away from them," said Woodlock.

“But what has been created is a bigger crowd going to Nowlan Park as there is huge interest in it as Tipp need a lift and Offaly are the same.

“When you have a standalone fixture, you are going to get a bigger crowd as it is a novel pairing. In 2013 when Tipperary played Kilkenny down there, the atmosphere was electric with the crowd in on top you and it is going to be something similar on Sunday, and it will be great for both teams.” 

Tipperary, no more than Offaly, have had no dip in performance from game to game, a commendable consistency given the almost six-week gap between their Munster final and All-Ireland semi-final.

“This is the last game, and you’d like to perform in the last game. We haven’t not performed all year, and this is the game you really want to get your best side out.

“We are expecting the most physical encounter we will have faced this year as Offaly will bring a massive work ethic,” Woodlock concluded.