St Mary's hope to build on 'very special victory' in South Tipperary
Clonmel team have momentum going onto the county championship
He may be the proud holder of three All-Ireland Senior hurling medals won with Tipperary, and the winner of several county titles and a Munster Club Football Championship with Clonmel Commercials, but Seamus Kennedy said that St Mary’s’ success in Sunday’s South Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship Final was “right up there” with any of his other achievements.
“I’ve had a very lucky career,” he said after the Clonmel team defeated Mullinahone in Fethard.
“I’ve had some unbelievable days with Tipp, I’ve had some incredible days with Commercials but I also wanted that brilliant day with Mary’s, and today thankfully I’ve got it. I hope it’s not the end of it, but it’s very special”.
It was only the second South senior title won by St. Mary’s, and their first in 45 years.
“It’s unbelievable, meeting some of the stalwarts of St Mary’s, who are waiting since 1981 for this,” he added.
"It's our first final since 1988, none of us were even born then. It’s great, it’s brilliant to see the joy on people’s faces.
“It’s massive for the club. I’m not taking from any of the underage success we had, that’s very important, but getting it to adult level is ultimately the key. Until today we haven’t done that. We won a county Intermediate championship in 2017, and nothing until today. It’s very important to keep making these steps.
“This needs to be a stepping stone, ultimately. It’s to be enjoyed, don’t get me wrong, it’s brilliant, we don’t get many days like this, we have to enjoy them. The work that’s been done in the club, it needs to be a stepping stone to kick on and get to the top table in Tipp hurling”.
He said he was a small bit worried that with so many wides in the second half (16, and 23 in total) that they might let victory slip from their grasp.
But Seamus added, “I was very happy with our shape and the way we were set up. I felt we weren’t giving much away, we probably were a bit too far away from each other in the first half, and let them get a couple of shots off. We tightened up a bit and our shape was a lot better in the second half, and we were working the ball better. I felt if we stayed giving ourselves the opportunities for those shots that we would be okay”.
He agreed it would give St Mary’s great encouragement going onto the county championship.
“You look at lads like James Morris, Peter McGarry (who were unavailable); Sean (Kennedy), Michael Murphy, Ross Slattery came on, lads you would have said would have been starting on this team. Some players were away and we knew other lads had to step up, and they did. It bodes well for competition in training for the next few weeks”.