Old glories and the men who made it possible propel Clonmel
WATCHING CLOSELY: Clonmel's latest foray into Cork territory is on the mind of John McNamara. Pic: INPHO/Tom Maher
This week John McNamara finds himself revisiting one particular cherished childhood memory. A sweet summer pilgrimage from Clonmel to the deep south and over to the east. His father brought him from base camp to every championship stage, as they followed Cork’s climb to the All-Ireland summit.
The late John McNamara Sr was the type of club stalwart they should commission statues of. He dreamed a dream of a south Tipp club dining at the top table and duly dedicated his life to delivering it. Player, manager, coach, selector, officer, committee member. The sort who maps out developments in theory and shakes the bucket at the front gate to make it a reality.
In 1990, he racked up hundreds of miles with his son John as they followed the rising red tide.
“We went to Croke Park and I just remember him reaching over afterwards to shake Billy Morgan’s hand,” recalls McNamara.
“Billy was in goals for one of the Railway Cup teams my father played on. My father had a huge respect for Billy Morgan, for Cork and for Nemo Rangers.”
The latest date in a longstanding relationship comes on Saturday as Nemo Rangers take on Clonmel Commercials at Páirc Uí Chaoimh in the Munster club championship quarter-final.
In 2019 the Cork champions ran out convincing winners at Fraher Field. Commercials dished out late heartbreak four years earlier when Michael Quinlivan pounced for a last-gasp goal to end the Premier County’s 46-year wait for a Munster title. A soaked Mallow witnessed an explosion of ecstasy that day.
“I’d say Nemo can feel aggrieved and maybe that they should have had the game wrapped up, Michael produced a bit of magic at the end," says McNamara.
“The reaction from the stands, it was all the pent-up history. You have to take into account that my own father played in two Munster finals, ‘68 and ‘71. My brother played in 1990 and in 1994, when Larry Tompkins’ Castlehaven beat them convincingly. But in 1990 it was Crokes who won in a replay and they really like felt they left it behind.
“For so long, it was ‘what would have been?’ In the space of a minute, what would have been became what happened. It was pure emotion. Middle-aged men crying in the stand because they thought they would never see it. The club was always a big name in Munster football, one of the big Tipperary teams. Then finally we could say we are shoulder to shoulder with the best.”
They have enjoyed golden eras in the past, sweeping up county medals in the 1960s and 1990s. McNamara Sr played on a Commercials side who beat Mick O’Dwyer’s Waterville but they never tasted provincial success. For a long time, the club spoke glowingly about the few pioneers who won as many as five county medals. This year a select group surpassed them to win their sixth.
2015 was the pinnacle. Seamus Kennedy might have two All-Ireland hurling medals but hails that triumph as the greatest of his career. The same was unquestionably true for John McNamara.
“For my father to tick that box… After they won, he said he could die a happy man. It was what he hoped to see for 50 years, as a player, manager, watching his own son come close," he says.
“Also, the young men he saw doing it were the same young men he watched in Croke Park in 2011. He got some lift when Tipperary won the minor All-Ireland. He always spoke about the importance of the minor grade. It gives you a glimpse into the future. When he saw that, he knew something big was going to happen. And it did.”
It was unbelievable but never unimaginable. Their storied history ensured the likes of Quinlivan or Colman, Jack and Conal Kennedy were reared on tales from legendary Munster outings. They nurtured and sustained them. Imagined surpassing them. It was part of who they were.
They extended beyond the boundary lines of Clonmel. In 2012, John remembers travelling to Killarney to face a star-studded Dr Crokes. In a packed stand he turned to the adjacent Kerry folk to discuss their support of the local club.
Quickly he realised they hailed from further afield. Supporters had wandered in from around the county because they recalled the entertainment provided by the Commercials team of the 1960s and 70s.
Saturday feels significant because the sides are so familiar with each other. They already played each other in a friendly earlier this summer. Clonmel have had to contend with some change since. After seven years and four county titles, Charlie McGeever called it a day last year.
Initially he was succeeded by Robbie O’Dwyer, son of Mick. Personal reasons meant he had to step away. It left a gap and selector Tommy Morrissey stepped forward to fill it. No better man, according to McNamara.
“Tommy was the first man on the phone when I stopped playing in 2009 to say, ‘well now you have to coach.’ One of the guys who lets no one away," he says. "Himself and Philly (Ryan) have been tremendous servants to Tipp football.”
McNamara was at the helm for the Tipperary minors this year and Morrissey was alongside him there as well. They topped their Phase 1 group before losing out to the eventual Munster champions. Predictably, their opponents that day were Cork.
Now they set sail for Leeside once more where they hope to produce another shock. Memories of previous glory and the men who made it possible propel them forward. Full speed.
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