Ken Dunne keeping the wheel turning in the Toome tradition

Ken Dunne partly took charge of Toomevara  because he didn't want the club to have to look outside for a manager.

RISING STAR: Toomevara talisman Darragh McCarthy hits a point from near the sideline against Moycarkey-Borris during the FBD Insurance Tipperary County Senior Hurling Semi-Final. Pic: Eamonn McGee

It wasn’t supposed to turn out like this. Ken Dunne didn’t intend becoming Toomevara senior manager. Not yet anyway.

A couple of years finetuning the U19 and U21 teams before taking over the main team had been the aim but when the offer came before last season, he couldn’t refuse.

Part of his reasoning was he didn’t want to see the club look outside its own for a manager. There was no need. Around the village, senior county medals clink and clank in pockets. In his brother Tommy, Eoin Brislane, Willie Ryan and current Tipperary senior coach Mikey Bevans to name but a few, the Greyhounds weren’t exactly short of highly qualified trainers.

Ultimately, the former Tipperary U20 manager agreed to take on the seniors as well as the U21s and U19s as Tommy has become the coaching officer and juvenile chairman Bernard Hackett has reshaped the underage structures.

A first final in 16 years on Sunday would represent success if they weren’t so used to winning them. “It was difficult,” Dunne says of the barren years. “You can’t stay going forever. It’s just impossible to sustain that. We won 11 county finals in 17 or 18 years. That’s just phenomenal and you don’t realise it at the time.

“We actually regret some of the ones we didn’t win in between. We regret not winning the ’06 final. I was captain in ’02 when we were beaten by Mullinahone (in a semi-final) with the last puck of the game. We could have won those. We stayed competitive after that last final, we got to a semi-final in ’18 and quarter-finals but just nearly there, not getting over the line.”

Since Bevans lifted the Dan Breen Cup for Toomevara in 2008, well-known surnames slipped out of the team but the Brislanes, Delaneys and McCarthys have since returned. The Dunne name should also reemerge in the coming years.

Back-to-back U19 North Tipperary champions these last couple of years, the wheel is turning. “I took it on two years ago and I wasn’t really sure,” Dunne admits. “I was looking at the U19s and U21s after the management of those teams had gone but a couple of people convinced me to take it.

“To be honest, I thought we needed somebody in the club over the seniors so that was a reason for it. Somebody who knew the young lads coming through and knows what it means. That’s so important.

“You wouldn’t have been thinking of county finals at that stage. It was just about getting this group playing at a high level and being hard to beat. You were trying to build and last year gave us a bit of hope and we gave a good account of ourselves in the semi-final against a good Kiladangan team.

“This year, we said we wanted to make amends and to be fair we did after a poor start to the championship when we lost to Borris-Ileigh in the first round, which meant we were under a bit of pressure. The following four games were all knockout ones for us really so to come through them has given us a good bit of belief and it’s great to be back in a final.”

Seven years ago, Dunne required emergency brain surgery having suffered a seizure caused by a large cyst while on a family break in Cork. He has fully recovered from the fright.

“No ill effects. This is great for me and I’m getting a great old buzz out of it. All good health-wise, thankfully.”

He gets a kick now out of seeing old team-mates of his, pups at the time, getting their just desserts for serving Toome so well in that fallow period. “I’m delighted for a couple of the older lads there like our full-back Andrew Ryan and Darren Delaney. Joey McLoughney has a couple of medals but he can’t tog out (because of injury).

“Andrew came onto the team in 2009, the year after our last final, and this is his first so it’s great for those lads. The younger lads like Darragh, Adam Hall, Jake Hackett and Josh Powell. They’re driving on everyone and it’s great.”

Dunne’s eyes light up when Darragh McCarthy is mentioned. The teenager’s star continues to rise after leading St Joseph’s CBS to the Harty Cup this year. His audacious point won Tipperary the U20 Munster title against Cork in May and he is the championship’s top scorer with 3-53, 2-7 of that coming in the semi-final win over Moycarkey-Borris.

“They’re down on the pitch every day,” says Dunne. “The McCarthys (Darragh and Kevin), Adam Hall, they’re unbelievable. I think Darragh even cycled into the field the morning after the Moycarkey game just to have a few pucks and get in a bit of recovery. They know all the players of the past. They’re just great chaps.”

Toomevara possess more than five times the amount of SHC county titles Loughmore-Castleiney have but that isn’t reflected in the odds ahead of Sunday’s final.

“Loughmore are serious,” says Dunne. “You would have thought Thurles playing with the wind in the second half of the semi-final they would have been favourites but Loughmore ground it out and of course John and Noel (McGrath) controlled the game around the middle.

“It’s going to be a challenge for us but our boys will be up for it and we won’t lack heart. We’ve grinded results out the last few days and we’ll go toe-to-toe with them and see where we land.”