Captain praises Tipperary football champions' 'outstanding' management team

The future is bright for Clonmel Commercials and hopefully they’re going nowhere for a while, captain Jamie Peters stated after Sunday’s FBD Insurance County Senior Football Championship final at FBD Semple Stadium.
The Clonmel team’s eight-points victory over Upperchurch/Drombane secured a third title in four years.
In his acceptance speech after he lifted the O’Dwyer Cup, the Commercials captain praised the management team and backroom team led by manager Tommy Morrissey.
He said that what they had done was outstanding and they had left no stone unturned.
He described vice-president and kitman Dan McMenamin as “the heartbeat” of the team.

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And he also expressed their gratitude to former manager Robbie O’Dwyer and his selector John Cronin, who were in charge of the team earlier this season but stepped down due to personal commitments.
“Two other men came in at the start of the year, and I would be lying if we said that we weren’t on the floor after last year (when they were defeated by Loughmore/Castleiney in the county final).
“Robbie and John, unfortunately they had to step away during the year.
“But what they did for this team can’t be underestimated. They mightn’t be with us here, but they picked us off the floor, they got us back enjoying our football again and they will always be welcome in the club.
“This is as much their cup as it is ours.”
O’Dwyer and Cronin had taken over the reins from Charlie McGeever, who was also in the captain’s thoughts.
“Charlie McGeever and his management team had given us seven years of service. They stepped away last year, they were top men and we can’t thank them enough.”
Jamie Peters said there was a lot going on behind the scenes in the Commercials club, including the juveniles and the ladies.
The ladies team were also in action on Sunday, in the Munster Senior B semi-final, and their victory over Finuge/St Senan’s in Lixnaw, Kerry meant it was “a good day all round” for the club.
The captain also remembered two great Commercials men who had passed on, former president, selector and player John McNamara and former player Donal O’Keeffe, who died in a road traffic accident in September.
In the course of his speech, the captain thanked their supporters, “a fair group of people who follow us everywhere, and even in weather like this.”
He also thanked their families, for sacrificing a lot for them.
He described himself as his fellow players’ biggest critic but added “they’re a great group of lads and a credit to the club and their families.”
And Jamie Peters didn’t let the occasion pass without paying a warm tribute to Upperchurch/Drombane.
He said they were “an absolute credit”, and to be playing in the latter stages of the county football and hurling championships was just outstanding.
“Ye are in the top tier of football now, 100 per cent, and your next mission has to be drive on from here and get back to the final, and there is no reason why ye can’t.
“Everyone will talk about the weather and Commercials taking their foot off the pedal in the second half, but that’s not true at all, ye were absolutely outstanding, fair play” he stated.