'One of the greatest things that's ever happened': Dunne on the Tipp triumph that changed his life
The Tipperary team of2001, back row, left to right, Thomas Costello, Mark O'Leary, Philip Maher, Brendan Cummins, Eddie Enright, Lar Corbett, Eugene O'Neill, front row, left to right, Eoin Kelly, John Carroll, Paul Kelly, Éamonn Corcoran, Tommy Dunne, Declan Ryan, David Kennedy, Paul Ormond. Pic: Aoife Rice/Sportsfile
“There are tears in my eyes and I’m not even talking about it.”
And there are. Tommy Dunne wipes them away as he contemplates what captaining Tipperary to the 2001 All-Ireland SHC title means to him.
In Croke Park on Sunday, he will lead out Nicky English’s side as the jubilee team are celebrated.
It was the pinnacle of Dunne’s career, a season capped with a hurler of the year accolade. For an outstanding hurler who had been so under-decorated at inter-county level up that point, it was a year of justification for a man who carried himself impeccably on and off the field.
Thankfully, everyone will be present on Sunday. A week later and it will be the turn of the Galway footballers in what will be a bittersweet occasion as they remember Paul Clancy and John O’Mahony.
At the same time, it will be emotional for this Tipperary group. They were the county’s sole All-Ireland senior winners in a 19-year span. And theirs were genuinely innocent times.
Two days after Tipperary beat Galway, the Twin Towers were hit. Tommy Dunne’s girlfriend and future wife Deirdre was living in New York at the time and was only home for the final.
Dunne has led the way in organising the fundraising for the day. A golf classic was held in Thurles last Friday week. This weekend, the group will stay in Louis Fitzgerald’s Arlington Hotel in the middle of Dublin city.
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“You’re always looking at the 25-year celebrations and thinking, ‘Ours is way off’,” he smiles. “Now it's here. But I'm glad we're still here. I'm glad that it's getting a huge response. Lots of people remember it.
“It probably changed my life,” Dunne says as he blinks his watery eyes. “Some of the lads will probably say the same thing, for the better. I feel really honoured that I got to captain Tipperary. It's an incredible thing. It's one of the greatest things that's ever happened. I was part of a fantastic team, fantastic management. The whole environment at the time was a really happy, positive place.
“It's nice that Tipp are still up there competing and winning their fair share. I remember Nicky saying to us, when he came in as manager first, he was such an inspirational person for us all. He said, ‘We'll play for a while, we'll be lucky to play but at the end of the day, we'll be back up in the stand supporting the next generation.’ And that's what it is.”
Dunne has paid it forward as a coach with three different Tipperary senior management teams and now as the architect of the coaching and games development strategy in the county’s new five-year strategic plan.
The appointment of a full-time head of athletic co-ordination and creation of senior development squads are the headline objectives from the committee he heads up.
Initially, he was daunted by what was being asked of him by strategic plan overseer Liam Sheedy.
“It just felt so big. I said to Liam, ‘What exactly are we trying to do here?’ He said, ‘We’re trying to inspire the next generation.’”
Dunne is never going to say ‘no’ to former players getting involved in coaching, but he wants to widen the base. “Break some of the, what would say, stereotypes or perception that ‘I can’t ever be…’.
“Like, I never thought I was going to go into coaching. I never asked for any coaching job. It's just people thought that you might offer something in it. But being around the right people in the right environment can drive you forward.”
The lineage from 2001 is strong: it was English’s fitness coach Dr Liam Hennessy who encouraged Dunne to become a qualified coach through his Setanta College.
The college continues to work closely with Tipperary GAA.
“One of the most important things you can give to another person is belief. Either as a coach or as a player. When someone else believes in you, that can take you to whole new places. And that's part of this plan.
“We feel we have the people in Tipperary. We have to show them that we have the actual physical resources to help them develop. And that we believe that they can develop by supporting them and by giving them opportunity.”
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