Grangemockler bring the Michael Hogan Cup home after victory in Tipperary Minor Football championship

Grangemockler/Ballyneale may have won the Tipperary County Minor A Gaelic Football Championship for only the first time in their long and fabled history last weekend, yet there was a distinct sense that the title had come home.

At the conclusion of their exciting 2-11 to 0-11 victory over Thurles Sarsfields in Cashel on Saturday evening, captain Mark O’Meara was presented with the Michael Hogan cup, which is named after the legendary Grangemockler and Tipperary footballer who was one of 14 people shot dead by British forces on Bloody Sunday during a challenge match between Tipperary and Dublin in Croke Park almost 100 years ago, on November 21 1920.

In a poignant nod to the historical significance of the win, the cup was brought to Michael Hogan’s grave in Grangemockler on Sunday morning.

Yet that element of historical symmetry tells only half the story of a fairytale success for one of the county’s oldest GAA clubs. Several players and mentors went to extraordinary lengths to reach Leahy Park in Cashel on Saturday evening.

Above - Grangemockler/Ballyneale’s Sean Daly forces his way past the challenge of Thurles Sarsfields’ Kieran Costello in Saturday’s county final in Cashel

Three players - Tom Brett, Eibhin Hanrahan and Paudie O’Shea - returned from their holidays in the Spanish resort of Salou, along with head coach Jim O’Meara, who organised the logistics of the trip that saw the Grangemockler contingent secure the last four seats on the plane before they were collected from Dublin airport at 2pm and driven to Cashel in time for the final.

Meanwhile, five more players, who were due to travel to Spain and Croatia on holidays last Thursday, delayed their departures until the morning after the game. They were the captain, Mark O’Meara, along with Joey Lyons, Mike Lyons, Leon Kennedy and Sean Daly.

In a closely-fought final, goals from Paudie O’Shea and Mike Lyons were crucial in securing the historic victory for Grangemockler, one that completed a memorable south and county double.

For more Tipperary sport, read  Defeat for Tipp hurlers by Wexford would mean that county intermediate and senior hurling championships will resume on weekend of August 10-11