Cathal O’Reilly – a true leader of Tipperary men

By Shane Brophy

In recent years, one of the strangest decisions made by the GAA was the discontinuation of the post-match speech from the captain of the winner of an All-Ireland Minor Final.

New GAA President Jarlath Burns has been a breath of fresh air since assuming the position earlier this year, leading with common sense, and it was presence and allowance that saw Tipperary captain Cathal O’Reilly address the supporters following Saturday’s extraordinary win.

Without it, we wouldn’t have witnessed the speech of a leader, wonderfully well written and delivered to the thousands of Tipperary supporters.

“This journey has been filled with challenges but together we faced every obstacle with determination and spirit,” he said.

“These lads have embodied the true spirit of Tipperary showing that with hard work and dedication that anything is possible. They have made their families, their communities, and everyone associated with Tipperary GAA incredibly proud.”

On the field, Tipperary couldn’t have asked for the better leader in the circumstances they found themselves in, full of poise and class which effused its way through the team, using the setbacks of the two red cards to inspire them to even greater effort.

“After we went down the first man, we were upset by it but motivated to drive it on,” O’Reilly said.

“But to lose Darragh as well, who was unlucky, but we always said there would be no excuses at the end of it and we said we would drive on and never give up and came out the right side of it.

“I was just so happy at the end, and so proud of all the lads, they never gave up. We worked ourselves into the ground which is what we wanted to do and if we did that, we would be happy but to get the win was unreal.

Going in at half time at 1-5 apiece, two men down, and facing into the breeze, everything was against Tipperary, but that fifteen minutes break was where they resolved themselves and delved into their training.

“We knew we had the legs on them,” O’Reilly added.

“We did loads of training, especially for scenarios such as this, with eighteen players against fifteen in matches, indeed any scenario that could have happened today the lads had us prepared for, so we were lucky in that sense.”

He added: “We hadn’t a spare man back there, so we had to push up on our men, and if we let them do the hurling, we weren’t going to have much hope come the end, so we decided to get tight and drive on.”

The Holycross/Ballycahill clubman also thanked the Tipperary support for the role they played in inspiring the revival.

“We heard it going in at half time and at full time, it gave us more motivation to go out there and do it for them as well as ourselves. It was phenomenal and great to see it,” he said.