Boss Dunphy wants Upperchurch-Drombane to target Tipp senior title next
SIGHTS SET HIGHER: Liam Dunphy wants his side to set their sights on winning Tipperary senior title. Picture: ©INPHO/James Lawlor
So where to now for a talented Upperchurch-Drombane team after winning the All-Ireland club IHC title? To the very top in Tipperary, of course.
Liam Dunphy's players were still whooping and hollering and high-fiving after a famous Croke Park win on Saturday evening when the manager had already started looking to their next big challenge.
Sure, they could have lost this final. And nobody would have cried foul or robbery had Tooreen, beaten in the 2023 final by Monaleen, held out in normal time, such was the quality of the Mayo senior champions' play for 40 minutes or so.
But it didn't pan out that way. Gavin Ryan took the game to extra-time with a long-range free from what felt like somewhere down near Phibsborough. And while Dunphy himself described extra-time, with its five goals as 'absolute chaos', Upperchurch ultimately prevailed.
"The lads are going to be playing for the Dan Breen now this year," said Dunphy, eyeing the Tipperary SHC prize. "I get to a lot of matches and I always say, think of Clara in Kilkenny a number of years ago, think of Thomastown, look what they did after winning their intermediate All-Irelands. That's the way the people of Upperchurch have got to be thinking now. They've got to be ambitious."
Clara and Thomastown took this title in 2013 and 2024 respectively. In each case, they won their county senior championship the following season.
The Church certainly have a great base to build on for their return to senior activity. Before the last couple of minutes of extra-time, they hadn't conceded a goal since lifting the O Riain Cup as Premier Intermediate champions in Tipp.
Mind you, to discount those crazy few minutes would be like taking Mona Lisa's faint grin away. It's all part of the masterpiece.
"It was pure chaos, absolute chaos," said Dunphy, referencing how Upperchurch were suddenly powerless to prevent Tooreen from reeling off 2-2, turning a 10-point deficit into just two by full-time.
Mayo footballer Fergal Boland's last point, which left two in it, tipped off the goalkeeper's hurl too. Imagine if it had been a few inches lower.
The Church escaped on that occasion but much earlier, in the middle third of the game, it looked like they mightn't. After a bright start, they were outscored by 0-10 to 0-1 between the 27th and 38th minutes. Tooreen were putting on an exhibition of long-range scoring and launching missiles for fun. Joe Boyle, Eoin Delaney, Boland, Kenny Feeney, none of them could miss.
"We were after retreating down the field too far," explained Dunphy. "They were getting the ball higher up the field, recycling it back out and getting their shooters out the field to put it over. And we just weren't able to get the message on to deal with that. That was our issue.
"It's easy to get a message on in the smaller grounds, you can run in almost and there's no drama. In Croke Park, you only have to cross the white line and they're on your case."
That's why silent sidelines are a thing, or are meant to be anyway, at underage level. To teach the players to make good decisions and to figure it out themselves. And Upperchurch eventually extricated themselves from the trickiest of situations. Conor Fahey's two goals were key. The first, in the 41st minute, broke Tooreen's momentum. The second, in extra-time, broke their hearts.
"He just needs to get onto the ball and trust himself," said Dunphy. "When Conor goes, there's no stopping him and he did the same against O'Callaghan's Mills."
The other goals were important too, giving the Tipp men a vital cushion to repel that late Tooreen storm. Paddy Phelan grabbed one of them. He battled back from injury to come on as a sub. At one stage, late in normal time, he used his body to block a Joy Boyle goal attempt for Tooreen and came away limping.
"I saw that but we had to leave him out there," said Dunphy. "He wanted to be out there and he was telling me the last number of weeks, 'I'm fine, I'm fine'. And you know he's not fine. But he did put a lot of work in. And he did what he had to do, he came on and scored a goal. He put in that huge block."
Jack Butler came on too, pinching a point in extra-time when they seemed to be worth double. According to Dunphy, Butler stood out in a challenge that the reserves played the previous week.
There were cameos too from Ger Grant, both Shanahans. Early on in the game, Pat Ryan chopped over a sideline and controlled one long delivery on his hurl like he was taking delivery of a new born baby. That touch, and the point he got off it, had the 5,916 crowd applauding in unison. Upperchurch led 0-9 to 0-2 after the Ryan point from the sideline but lost their way for a while then.
"Tooreen have shooters, they have savage forwards," said Dunphy. "You think of the top clubs in our county, challenging for Dan Breen. There's two or three of those Tooreen lads would make any of those sides. They have men with pace, good strikers. They're able to win aerial ball, they're just good hurlers.
"And we got into a false lead at the start and maybe we became a little complacent. We knew we'd have to deal with adversity throughout the game, and it came at us."
: L Shanahan 0-7 (5 frees); C Fahey 2-0; G Ryan 0-5 (5 frees, 1 65); P Shanahan 1-1; P Phelan 1-0; Pat Ryan 0-3 (1 s/l); C Ryan, M Griffin, D Grant, J Butler 0-1 each.
: F Boland 0-6; B Morley 0-4; L Lavin, D Harrison 1-0 each; J Boyle, E Delaney, K Feeney 0-3 each; S Kenny 0-2; B Douglas (1 free), S Boland (1 free), F Delaney (1 free) 0-1 each.
: C Shortt; M Lavery, K Ryan, D Carew; T Corbett, G Ryan, N Grant; D Grant, A Ryan; C Fahey, C Ryan, P Shanahan; M Griffin, L Shanahan, P Ryan.
: P Phelan for C Ryan (42); J Butler for A Ryan (49). A Ryan for D Grant (64); G Grant for Corbett (69).
: B Douglas; C Hession, M Morley, O Greally; D Kenny, S Coyne, J Boyle; F Boland, S Kenny; E Delaney, B Morley, J Cassidy; L Lavin, S Boland, K Feeney.
: D Huane for M Morley (22); S Regan for Cassidy (43); F Delaney for Feeney (56); P Mooney for Hession (59). J Glavey for Kenny (70); D Delaney for B Morley (74); D Harrison for S Boland (74).
C Flynn (Westmeath).
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