Cocktail of emotions: The different shades of county final joy
DELIVERANCE: Lee Keegan lifts the trophy as Westport celebrate winning the match. Pic: INPHO/Tom Maher
Amid the delirium and backslapping that greets county final success, many of the central characters are admirably adept at sharing the release of emotion that spills in many forms.
For some, there is the hand of history to be shaken. The overwhelming pride at a summit scaled for the first time. The knowledge this is an achievement your forebears craved. Mayo great Lee Keegan was frank about the scale of his glee after Westport claimed Mayo senior success for the first time ever on Sunday.
“This is one of the best days of my sporting career, he told RTÉ Radio 1 Sunday Sport. “To share the pitch with the likes of Kevin Keane, Brian McDermott and the older guys. It’s very hard to sum up the emotion I’m going through at the moment. It means so much.
“Today is the pinnacle for the club. Someone text me during the week, he’s won club All-Irelands and that, he goes, ‘When you win a senior county title, it is the pinnacle of your career, your club career.’ It does feel like that.
“You see what it means for everyone around here. I think we’ve firmly put Westport on the map for senior teams in the future.”
The tempo of the final whistle surge onto Páirc Uí Chaoimh of the St Michael’s bench told its own story. A dam of frustration bursting. After five county final defeats in a decade, it was understandable that the Blackrock contingent were glancing in the rearview mirror following success over Knocknagree in the Cork Senior A final.
"It has been 10 years since the first county final (loss) and 24 since we last won it so it is a testament to us that we come back every year and try every year,” centre-back Alan O’Callaghan said.
“We have lost a few heartbreakers but this is our just reward. Anyone in the county will be delighted that St Michael’s finally got over that last hurdle and got what we deserved, I think.”
Kilruane MacDonagh's have been waiting a while too, 37 years, to recapture the Tipp crown Cloughjordan was getting used to when they won four in eight years in the late 70s and 80s.
“We won’t have to listen to the oul lads anymore,” joked Niall O’Meara on Tipperary GAA TV.
But of course, the tragic night of their championship meeting with Clonoulty Rossmore afforded all in Tipp hurling the perspective and clarity that can elude us in these moments. After the match, the MacDonagh's squad knelt at the spot in Semple Stadium where Dillon Quirke had taken ill and raised his red helmet.
“We’ll always remember the night we won but we’ll always remember the night we were all here, the night that poor Dillon passed away,” said manager Liam O’Kelly.
O’Meara expanded: “That night in Semple Stadium, hurling didn’t matter. The following week we tried to support the Quirke family as much as we could. We lost our own few people. I lost my dad, Jack Peters lost his dad. Paudie Williams lost his brother. We’ve suffered a lot, but it’s a nice tight group. We’re best friends on and off the field. Dillon’s up there looking down on us. Dillon, thanks very much, that’s all I’ll say, I can’t imagine the loss people had, but maybe he was giving us a helping hand today.”
Sometimes the public pronouncements after the final whistle give you a solid insight into what the team talks were like before the off. Around Turner's Cross in Cork, most of the interviews since the Premier Senior Final have been variations on a popular GAA theme: Youse all wrote us off coming up here today.
Nemo Rangers captain Luke Connolly felt a stellar team hadn't been afforded due recognition: “I think this group was a bit disrespected to be perfectly honest. This was three counties in four years and I felt coming into this game we were almost a team in our first county final the way we were being spoken about. I think a lot of people wrote us off based on a quarter final.
“Somebody asked me during the week were ye unconvincing. I’ll add it to the list of unconvincing counties I have at this stage. I don’t mean to be facetious but look I’ve heard that said about us several times. It’s about days like today and performing.”
When Lorrha-Dorrha were relegated from Tipperary’s Senior A grade last season and sent back to intermediate hurling, their great goalkeeper Ken Hogan - who had just helped St Rynagh's win three Offaly titles in a row - felt the draw back to the homeplace.
After Sunday's win over Moneygall, he described to Tipp FM a sense of responsibility to help with the long climb back to the top table.
“To achieve premier intermediate status straight away on the rebound after being relegated last year is huge for us.
“For all the youngsters in the parish, it’s a huge thrill to come here to Semple Stadium, the field of dreams, the field of legends and to win a county final.
“We have to keep the momentum going. Players travel, players come, players go but we’ve got to keep the parish alive like every other rural parish in the country and we’ll do that.”
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