REACTION: 'It’s just disbelief,' says Tipperary minor captain O'Reilly after Munster win

We have had some incredible moments in Tipperary GAA over the years but we could scarcely have witnessed a more poignant and fitting moment on Monday night when Holycross Ballycahill’s latest superstar defender accepted the John Doyle Cup in Limerick.

Cathal O’Reilly follows in the footsteps of the great Doyle, and more recent stars in Cathal Barrett in standing out as a leader in the Tipperary jersey, and he more than played his part in the game, keeping Clare’s danger man in Liam Murphy to just one-point all game.

The young man belied his young age in the aftermath of the game and spoke with great reverence of the honour he had been given to receive the cup and what it meant to him, his teammates, and of course, his club.

“It’s a proud moment for me being captain of the Tipp team especially being a Holycross man so just delighted with it yeah.

“It’s just disbelief I suppose, it’s the stuff you dream of, to lift a Munster Minor trophy. It’s just unreal,” he smiled gleefully.

For men so young, nerves are always going to play a part when it comes to big games like a Munster Final representing Tipperary but O’Reilly revealed that the ambition to win outweighed the sense of nervousness in the build-up to the game, and they wanted to right the wrongs of the defeat to Clare in Thurles a few weeks ago.

“Well I wouldn’t say they were nerves now, we were just more ambitious to bring it home I suppose. Training in Holycross there on Thursday, getting a feel for the pitch.

“We knew we’d have to keep out the goals if we wanted to win, they scored four goals against us the last day and it’s hard to beat any team when they’ve scored four goals so that was our main focus then to keep out the goals. Then, we were lucky enough to get two ourselves so that helped in the win,” he concluded.