Skipper Flynn refreshed after Tipp rejection
By Shane Brophy
What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger! That certainly applies to Kiladangan captain Alan Flynn who has turned inter-county rejection into a positive.
Flynn was a surprise omission from Liam Cahill’s first Tipperary panel as the 2019 All-Ireland winner still had a lot to offer, he felt. It was added to by the fact that clubmates Willie Connors and his brother Paul were also let go, while James Quigley was culled at the end of this years National League while Barry Hogan was replaced in goals midway through the championship.
“Definitely, a few of us we were hurt to be let go,” Flynn admitted.
“But we are very fortunate to go back to a club like Kiladangan where we forty or fifty lads at training and there is an unbelievable buzz there. The training does be at such a level that it brought some freshness back into my hurling, that I was back around the environment that got me in there (Tipperary) in the first place and I am loving it this year.”
Flynn’s form on route to this county final is such that there are growing calls for the 29-year-old to be brought back into the Tipperary fold for the 2024 campaign, and the versatile defender and midfielder would be willing to answer the call if it comes.
“If an opportunity comes to hurl with Tipperary and represent Tipperary, yes, but that isn’t in my mind at the moment,” he revealed.
“I just want to do my best for Kiladangan in the county final. It is going to be a massive battle against Thurles Sarsfields, they are the kingpins. In 2016 when we played them in the final, we were only novices and so naïve going into it, now we feel we are ready to compete with them and ready to give it a good rattle.”
Giving it a good rattle is probably playing it down for this group of Kiladangan players, many of whom are facing into their sixth county final (including 2022 replay) since 2016 when Thurles handed them their first of three final losses, interspersed with the high point of the 2020 final win over Loughmore/Castleiney.
Flynn accepts Kiladangan haven’t regularly reached the heights of that successful campaign but feels they are getting close to it.
He said: “In the quarter final we started very well against Holycross and went six up but let our foot off the pedal and took two sucker-punches. I don’t think we were fully at it that day, hurling in fits and starts.
“We just really wanted to perform against Toomevara and hurled really well right through. We conceded a couple of soft goals, but we really deserved the win and right through lads really stood up and worked as a team, the right shot selection so it was a really good day at the office for us.
“Last year we weren’t hurling to the pitch of it when it came to the business end of things. We saw with Thurles (against Loughmore) they were hurling to the pitch of things as well so this Sunday it will be two teams that will want to go at it and try to hurl their best stuff on the day.”
Despite getting back to the county final, it hasn’t been a smooth campaign for Kiladangan with a North final loss to Nenagh Eire Og, while progressing from the group stage saw them fall to Borris-Ileigh in a game in which they were ten points behind at one stage. They were also forced to delve deep into their panel with 23 players used in the eight games so far.
“It is great getting to these finals but this year we are fresher and ready to go,” Flynn added.
“We have been missing big players in games, James (Quigley) for a couple of matches, Willie (Connors) only coming on, but we are hurling together as a team.
“Last year we weren’t connected through the field but this year we are a lot fresher, bouncing off the ground, and hurling a lot better so hopefully we can bring it in again on Sunday.
“We have been around this since 2016 right through but we get a lot of enjoyment from it, we want to hurl to our best, and when you have the hurlers, there is nothing worse than underperforming when you have the potential to do it. You are not going to enjoy it unless you get to a final and the management have managed it very well, in terms of when we went back training this year. We weren’t back long before the North Championship started, it feels like we haven’t trained that long.
“To be honest, these big heavy pre-seasons in hurling and GAA have to go. You see in Waterford with Austin Gleeson stepping away and I have no doubt it will have a knock-on effect across players in other counties if it is not looked at.”