This group stayed together – O’Meara

By Shane Brophy

Niall O’Meara has done it all in the game of hurling, a two-time All-Ireland winner with Tipperary, but last Sunday’s county senior hurling championship success tops the lot.

“It does,” he admitted.

“I think this is my fourteenth year hurling senior so it has been a long time coming but is certainly worth the wait.

“What can I say about the group? We had a tough first half, Paidi Williams saved a penalty which kept us in it, and in the second half we hurled outstandingly well and won a lot of ball, and the boys let it off, and we got some great scores.”

Kilruane had leaders all over the field in the second half, but none more so than O’Meara whose presence and leadership in that key position of centre back helped turn the game around in their favour.

“Kiladangan are a serious outfit and we felt they pulled us around the field in the first half, and are good at that, but said if we can hold our positions and try and make them go long we would have a chance,” O’Meara explained.

“And we did that brilliantly in the second half. Jerome (Cahill) got into it, Cian Darcy got two brilliant goals, and from a defensive point of view Aaron Morgan was outstanding again.

“Over the last few years we have had ups and down but this group stayed together, Fez (Seamus Hennessy) came on today and played well again.

“What can I say, I am very proud of everyone here. We have had a tough couple of years, even this year with poor Dillon Quirke. After that it wasn’t just about hurling, it was about enjoying life and understanding there is more to life than hurling but today we got a bit of a reward and maybe Dillon was smiling down on us.”