Tipperary and Offaly Minors meet for only the second time

By Liam Hogan

Next Sunday’s All-Ireland Minor Hurling Final will only be the second time Tipperary and Offaly have met in championship fare.

The previous occasion was the 1987 All-Ireland final which Offaly won 2-8 to 0-12.

Tipperary were hoping for a third title in the decade having won in 1980 and 1982, but they were up against strong opposition in an Offaly side who defending champions after emerging convincing winners over a promising Cork team in 1986.

Damien Geoghegan, Joe Errity, Thomas Moylan, Declan Pilkington, and substitute Billy Dooley were survivors from that team. In addition, John Troy (Lusmagh, sub keeper at age of 15) and winner of three All-Ireland minor medals, Brian Hennessy, Seamus Morkam and Kieran Egan were on the subs bench.

Tipperary’s path to the ’87 final was unique in that they had victories over the champions of the previous three years. They commenced with a 3-12 to 2-6 win over Limerick in the Munster semi-final at Semple Stadium on May 22. Tipp then defeated Cork in the Muster final 2-11 to 1-9, followed by a resounding 4-12 to 1-9 win over Galway. “Tipperary topple torpid Galway” said the Nenagh Guardian in its match report.

In the three games prior to the final Tipperary had scored 9-35 (62) while conceding 5-24 (39). Offaly scored 9-46 (73) in their three wins over Wexford, Kilkenny and Antrim while conceding 3-25 (34).

Backroom Team

Tipperary coach was Paddy Doyle of Thurles Sarsfields, brother to Jimmy Doyle. Paddy won two All-Ireland minor medals in 1957 & 1959, and senior medal in 1964. Phil Lowry (Holycross/Ballycahill) assisted Doyle and the remainder of the selection committee was made up of Donal Shanahan (Toomevara); Joe Fogarty (Golden-Kilfeacle); Seamus Ryan (Moycarkey-Borris); Dick Gouldsboro (Ballingarry) and Paul Hogan (Borrisokane). Paul’s son Brendan was on the team at left corner forward.

Offaly had Birr’s PaJo Whelahan as their coach. He is father to Brian Whelahan who lined out at right corner back. Whelahan was one of four players aged sixteen in the Offaly team along with John Troy, Johnnie Dooley, and the Adrian Cahill.

The remaining selectors included: Br Vincent (Birr); Pat Moylan (St. Rynagh’s), Willie Gorman (Kilcormac/Killoughey), and Tony Sampson (Shinrone).

Tipperary’s the preparation for the All-Ireland final were disrupted. They lost two players through injury. Midfielder Brendan Ryan (Golden-Kilfeacle), while assisting his club in a football game, sustained a broken leg.

There was more trouble a week prior to the final when Kevin Ryan, a substitute in the side that won the Munster final, suffered an injury similar to his namesake while the squad were involved in an A v B game. This meant promotion to Ger Dealey of St. Mary’s. Dealey was a spectator at the Munster and All-Ireland semi-finals, but he played very well in the final.

“We had an A versus B game but by hard luck one of our midfielders (Kevin Ryan) broke leg that morning, recalls Tipperary captain Michael O’Meara of Toomevara.

“The weather was so good leading up to the final it was decided we would go into Thurles to get used to the hard ground.

“We went up to Dublin the following Sunday and what do you think happened? It milled rain all morning. The day was so bad and in the first half I had to change my boots at half time.

“Johnny Leahy got a great chance of scoring a goal but sure the ground was so bad that when he pulled on the ground the ball went nowhere. When Offaly got the winning goal (six minutes from time) we were not able to come back at them.”

Right half back on the GAA’s Hurling Team of the Millennium, Offaly’s Brian Whelahan also recalls the early stages of the game.

“One of the big memories of the game was that John Leahy, who was one of the stars of the Tipp team, started very well,” he recalls.

“He had two points scored but Offaly brought back Johnny Dooley to mark Leahy after about ten or fifteen minutes. Johnny was only fifteen at the time. He did a great job.

“That curtailed their threat because they also had Colm Egan who was on fire all through the championship at full forward, but our man Damien Geoghegan ended up in getting man of the match.

He added: “We had a bit of luck that day. Joe Errity took a 65. It hit the post and came back for Seamus Morkam to score a goal. It was a crucial stage of the game with about six minutes to go. It put us a point up.”

Tipperary were unable to produce a comeback as Michael O’Meara suggested such was the state of the weather.

Former Tipperary All-Ireland winning senior and minor manager Liam Sheedy, also played in the game, lining out at right corner back. He felt that with Tipp seniors absent the support was small.

“We were going well but remember this was one of a few occasions when Tipp didn’t have a senior team (playing in the senior final the same day),” he said.

“We did have them in the semi-final, but Tipp lost to Galway in the senior. We had great support behind us in every match up to then but as the minor final wore on the crowd were getting bigger and it got behind Offaly and probably helped them in the last few minutes.”

Future Offaly great Johnny Pilkington also played in that game and is a selector with the 2022 minors and still recalls the day and how the players developed later on in their careers.

“Four of the team were under 16 (in 1987) and they went on to win minor again in 1989,” he said.

“John Troy, Brian (Whelahan) and Johnny Dooley were real specialities. Tipperary had Johnny Leahy and Conal Bonnar. Michael Ryan as well who went to have good senior careers.”

The 1987 Minor final produced many subsequent household names, including Michael Ryan, who went onto win an All-Ireland senior medal as a player and manager, and he remembers the occasion of getting to Croke Park and playing in the big stage.

“I was only seventeen and it was a real fairy-tale stuff to me,” he recalls.

“In the middle of the summer, we were going down to Killarney to see Tipp win their first Munster senior final in sixteen years in a replay. A number of weeks later we were in a semi-final with Tipp’s seniors and minors involved. Tipp were knocked out of the senior and we were the ones that went forward.

“I thought it was extraordinary for a young fellow. It was magic to be involved and a sense of wonder and try as you might not let the occasion interfere with the game (when you are seventeen years old) is difficult to achieve that. On a personal level I was taken off and deservedly so and I always remember thinking will I ever play for Tipp again,” he said.

Offaly Scorers: Seamus Morkam 2-1; Declan Pilkington 0-3 (2 frees); Billy Dooley 0-2; Adrian Cahill, Thomas Moylan 0-1 each.

Tipperary Scorers: John Leahy 0-6 (4 frees); Ger Dealey 0-3; Conal Bonnar, Michael Perdue, John Quinn 0-1 each.