Town End Column: 'The stuff that hurling dreams are made of...'

“The week before the All-Ireland final is one of the best weeks of the year” was a line from Liam Sheedy in the lead up to the 2019 All-Ireland final victory over Kilkenny.

The week after is outstanding too if the team can secure victory. This week plans are in place to get tickets, get to the game, organise and prepare.

It is that kind of week for the Tipperary minors and their families as Tipperary get ready to face the Cats on Saturday evening.

It is great to hear buses are organised from many parts of Tipperary and it is the kind of occasion that doesn’t have the rawness of a senior final but will still have a huge crowd and a cracking atmosphere.

The fact it is against Kilkenny adds to the buzz for many and stirs up memories of great battles across the decades.

At senior level Tipperary beat Cody’s Cats in 2010, 2016 and 2019 yet in some respects Kilkenny owned the decade before and those three titles really only addressed the balance somewhat rather that it being viewed as a decade that Tipperary dominated.

At minor level the same two counties have dominated the roll of honour with both winning 21 titles each.
From the off, both sides raked up titles. In the 1930s, they went head to head in finals three times.

However - to focus on recent decades - the teams have only met in three minor finals since the start of the 1970s. In 1976 Tipperary won their first title in 17 years beating Kilkenny.

Some of the key players for Tipperary at that time were PJ Maxwell, Eamon O’Shea and Michael Doyle. In Croke Park in 1991, it was Toomevara’s Tommy Dunne who was the big name on the Tipp side alongside Brian O’Meara that lost out to PJ Delaney and company in what was a close final.

Later that same afternoon at the same venue, Tipp beat Kilkenny in the senior final with Pat Fox and Nicky English playing. A decade on from that 1991 minor final, Tommy Dunne captained the Tipperary seniors to All-Ireland glory against Galway.

This century, the counties met in just one minor final: the 2002 final where current Tipperary backroom team member Willie Ryan was part of the team that lost out to a star studded Noreside team with Cha Fitzpatrick, Richie Power and Michael Rice calling the shots that day.

Many of that Kilkenny side went on to add multiple senior medals to their collection while Willie Ryan and Conor O’Mahony from that Tipperary minor team went on to become regulars at senior level.

That era was far different to now as the game has changed completely with the new ball, tactics and the running game but the trip down memory lane highlights the depth of feeling and rivalry that is there through time.

History will be made and we will all dearly hope that James Woodlock and company can bring the cup home to the Cathedral steps in Thurles again.

The adult hurling game rolls on as players and supporters try to forget about the desperate senor intercounty season. How we would love to be in an All-Ireland senior semi-final rather than already deep into the club championships but that was how the seniors season went and so there is a full line up of club games on this weekend across the four divisions.

Senior hurling will take most of the limelight but there are championship games too at junior level and both intermediate grades.

North Tipp is at the semi-final stage already at senior level with county champions Kildangan accounting for Borris Ileigh, Nenagh for Lorrha, Toome for Roscrea and underdogs Templederry beating Kilruane MacDonaghs at Dolla last week.

Jake Morris was in serious form for Nenagh with 2-6 from play while Sean Ryan was the two goal hero for Templederry who were in good form and led from the first score against Kilruane.

Mid Tipp will be competitive again this year with recent winners JK Brackens up against Holycross on Friday evening. Holycross are a team to watch this year, I think if they can play to their capabilities consistently they will come close to winning a county final sooner rather than later.

They have many skillful young players allied with Cathal Barret and Bryan O’Mara so the blend suggests this is their time to start delivering if they are to make hay.

Sunday’s game looks to be the tie of the weekend on the club front with reigning divisional champions Thurles Sarsfields taking on recent Cahill Cup winners Loughmore Castleiney who are managed by Kildangan native Eamon Kelly this year.

The Mahers, Connollys, Stakelums, McGraths and co will all look to win a divisional medal to set them up with momentum before the county commences so it should be a close, fast encounter on Sunday afternoon.

South Tipp has action too with St.Marys up against Killenaule so it will be interesting to see if ‘The Robins’ can make this a winning season. They have quality players with the Stakelums as well as Tipp senior footballers Jimmy and Paudie Feehan and how it would enhance their year if ‘Bubbles’ was back injury free.

Word is that Seamus Kennedy is now part of the Clonmel sides backroom team, following his serious knee injury picked up playing for Tipp. He has potential to have a great impact on their year.

The Premier Intermediate divisional championships are highly competitive with Cashel playing Sean Treacys on Sunday and Boherlahan playing Gortnahoe.

On Friday ‘The Church’ play Moyne and all those sides will be hoping they will have climbed the ladder back to senior status by the end of the year.

That championship has proved difficult to win and the emergence last year of Thurles Sarsfield’s second team as real contenders makes it an even tougher championship for the clubs whose first team competes at the grade.

Sarsfield’s year may depend on how their first team goes, as a couple of injuries to the flagship team means players will have to step up a grade thus weakening the drive for honours.

If Sarsfields have all the same players for the Premier Intermediate championship they had last year, they will be very formidable opponents again.

This is the time of year where hope is highest for teams and getting through to a divisional final with a chance to march behind a band and win silverware at the end of the day means all it ever has.

A whopper of a hurling weekend is in store so get on to a game if you can at all and no doubt the big one is at Nowlan Park on Saturday evening.

The entire county wishes the team well, the need is great right now for a big win. This is the time to shine. Bring it home.