Thurles Sarsfields on a mission to avenge county final defeat as county championship begins

Players from clubs across Tipperary flooded the sod of FBD Semple Stadium last Thursday evening as the FBD Insurance Tipperary Club Hurling and Football Championships were officially launched at the Thurles venue.

The divisional action has kept the club hurling supporter sated for the last month or so after Tipperary’s exit from Munster, but the wait is close to ending as the hurling championships at Senior, Premier Intermediate, and Intermediate take off this weekend.

There will be games across the three days of the weekend in a feast of small ball action, and ahead of the game, players, county officials and representatives from the championships sponsor FBD Insurance came together for an event to mark the commencing of the 2024 fare.

Amongst those in attendance was Conor Stakelum who represented his club and defeated finalists from 2023 in Thurles Sarsfields and the Tipperary senior hurler recounted the disappointment of losing out to Kiladangan after a replay last year.

“That was a very hard pill to swallow, losing that replay. But we’re back on the horse and looking forward to getting going again this year,” Stakelum recounted.

“It’s given us a chance to regroup and put in a few weeks of hard training and hopefully, that will stand to us as we move into the county championship.”

After having a quite interrupted intercounty campaign due to injuries, Stakelum remarked how delighted he is to be back in the fold with his club as they bid to end a seven-year wait for a Dan Breen appearance in the Sars’ Centre; a relative famine for the club at the top of the roll of honour in Tipperary.

“I had a couple of injuries last year and that was kind of new territory for me looking back now, it didn’t help and it was a tough season for me and the group.

“But it was a good couple of weeks getting back with the club after that and Paudie Carey and Paidi Maher, have given me every chance to get right.

“It can be very frustrating and that was my first time experiencing that. You’d often look at lads on the sideline and they’d talk about that frustration and I never really understood.
“It’s a lonely place and it can be very hard to be mentally, but you do get a sense of how lucky you are when you’re back on the pitch.”

The format of the club hurling championship has been one of the big successes achieved by administrators in Tipperary in recent years, with teams largely at a level standard which has made the groupings stronger and more competitive with each passing year; something Stakelum remarked upon when asked about Sarsfields’ first round opponents, Mullinahone.

“There’s going to be no easy game in this championship. We just have to take it game by game.

“Mullinahone are building and you could see last year that they are a coming team, so we’ll have to be at our very best for every game, but we’ve no doubts about how tough this game is going to be.

“It’s the same with everybody though. This Tipperary championship is awesome in terms of competitiveness. Everybody has a chance and it will be no different this year.”

The seven-year wait for another county title has become even more sought after by Thurles Sarsfields considering how close they came last year and in 2022, losing out on both occasions in a final replay against Kiladangan and Loughmore Castleiney respectively, but it hasn’t added any additional pressure according to Stakelum.

“I don’t think there’s pressure,” he shrugged.

“Look, of course, you’re going to have a lot of expectations to live up to in the club in terms of standards and how you carry yourself on and off the field. I think that’s the only pressure you can see.

“On the pitch, there’s no other team that’s done that four in a row since, so it’s very hard to do. Winning any county final is hard as you can see from the last few years with so many different winners.

“So in terms of pressure, that’s never really talked about inside; living up to expectations. Maybe when we were winning in ‘17 and ‘18 there was, but I think if you can go out onto that pitch and give it everything, people will be appreciative and you can hold your head high.”