High octane start envisaged as battle for Dan Breen begins
By James Hayden
In many of the southern states of America, NASCAR racing has since the 1950’s been the very heart and soul of sporting weekends. Fans flock in their droves to speedways to witness high octane racing with the season very much aligned to our own GAA club season here in Tipperary.
Every February fans in states like Tennessee, North Carolina, and Florida gear up for the new season but when it comes to the business end of the season and the final round of races for the famed Bill France Cup only sixteen cars are allowed to participate for the highest honour in NASCAR.
Traditionally late July is when the race car season really hots up and so is the case for the FBD Insurance sponsored Tipperary senior hurling championship with the battle for the famed Dan Breen Cup set to ramp up in earnest next weekend.
That magic number sixteen also happens to be the number of teams that will vie for the right to be crowned champions, the highest honour that can be bestowed upon any club in the county.
This honour has been bestowed frequently with Thurles Sarsfields out in front with 36 titles while Toomevara have welcomed Dan Breen back to the parish a whopping 21 times and Moycarkey-Borris with twelve titles will be seeking to bridge a whopping 40-year gap since their last title win in 1984.
Hurling fans' appetites were whetted sufficiently following an interesting county league competition while cracking divisional championships have served only to leave fans begging for more top class matches in what surely will be a high-octane championship for all.
The general consensus amongst hurling aficionados is that this year’s race is wide open with any number of teams capable of bringing the Dan Breen back to their respective parishes.
Speaking at the launch of the FBD Insurance sponsored county championships in Semple Stadium last week, former North Tipperary Board Chairperson and current Tipperary County Board Vice-Chairperson, Michael Tierney agreed that this year’s championship promised to be a memorable one.
“The divisional championships across the board this year have been brilliant,” he began.
“The fact that maybe the divisions had a little bit more time as it worked out, was one of the better things to come out of having been beaten early in the inter-county senior championship.
“There was a brilliant South championship, the Mid championship and the North championship were brilliant the whole way through with some very tight games.
“It augurs well for a super county championship, and I think clubs, players and supporters alike can’t wait for it to start.”
With regards to the reigning North & county champions Kiladangan, Michael said they have been the standard bearers for club hurling in the county and will undoubtedly have a target on their backs as they embark on their 2024 campaign.
“They are very seasoned at this stage and have a lot of championships under their belt,” he added.
“They have lots of super hurlers right through from their goalkeeper to their inside forward line and to me they are deservedly the team with a target on their back.
“They have been at the business end of the championship for the past five or six years and I still think they are the team to beat and to me they are worthy champions from last year and will be striving to put it back-to-back,” added the Borris-Ileigh clubman.
Friday throw-in
The senior championship will throw-in in MacDonagh Park, Nenagh this Friday evening with Lorrha, back in the big time following their successive back-to-back county title winning campaigns at Intermediate and Premier Intermediate level, facing a formidable challenge in the guise of newly crowned Mid-champions, Loughmore/Castleiney.
Lorrha captain Michael Dolan is under no illusion as to the baptism of fire the men from Lower Ormond face from the Eamonn Kelly coached side in their return to county senior hurling championship action.
“We are preparing fairly well for the challenge of Loughmore,” he revealed.
“We know we face one of the best teams in the county and I suppose when we played Nenagh Éire Óg in the North championship we got an eye-opener into what standard we are expected to step up to from Premier Intermediate.
“The last couple of weeks have been about focusing on getting up to that speed of hurling and the speed of movement and moving the ball as quickly as possible.”
He added: “It has been a great past two years for the club, and I suppose we are riding the crest of a wave you could nearly say. We had a break after the Nenagh game, and it gave a few lads the chance to get back from injuries and suspensions.
“We are looking forward to next Friday and having a full panel to choose from, but we know we are in a tough group and there are no easy matches at this level, but they are the games you want to be involved in to really test how good you are.”
In the same group, Nenagh Éire Óg will be going all guns blazing for an opening round victory over Holycross-Ballycahill on Sunday, a team that for many are sure to be knocking on the door when it comes to county honours this year.
Having secured back-to-back North titles in 2022 & 2023, Éire Óg have for many flattered to deceive since their last county and only title win in 1995 and without the benefit of a divisional champions safety net this year, they will have to be right on their game in the group stages if they are to progress.
Éire Óg captain James Mackey said the ‘Blues’ are focused entirely on what he describes as “knockout hurling from here on in”.
“We are happy enough with our preparation and while we don’t have the cushion of the second chance for divisional champions that we had in the last two years the truth is that it didn’t help us over the line either of those campaigns,” Mackey revealed.
“We have had three weeks to focus on this game since the North semi-final and we are happy how it is going. It’s a very tough group we are in, and we know it's straight up knock out hurling from her on in. All we are looking at now is Holycross-Ballycahill and focusing solely on that game.”
Group 4 sees Templederry Kenyons meet JK Brackens while reigning county champions Kiladangan will face a strong Clonoulty/Rossmore side as part of a mouth-watering double header in Borrisoleigh on Saturday afternoon.
Kiladangan go into this campaign gunning for their third title having previously lifted Dan Breen in 2020 & 2023 and this golden generation of players only recently added the North divisional crown to their list of accolades.
Clonoulty will undoubtedly be aiming to take an early scalp but Kiladangan netminder and Tipperary goalkeeper Barry Hogan is under no illusions as to the challenge the ‘Dangan face.
“It’s kind of surreal where we came from to be the reigning county and north senior hurling champions,” Hogan admits.
“At times you would have to pinch yourself and while it’s a big achievement for the club as players we are just focused on this championship again…this is a hugely competitive championship and there is no easy game in this championship.”
He added: “Clonoulty are a very experienced team. They work very, very hard in every game and they bring passion and bring heart and they know how to win a county championship.
“There are sixteen teams in Dan Breen and it's so, so competitive. If you are not at the top of your game, you will be caught.”
Group 2 includes last year’s runners-up Thurles Sarsfields for whom Darragh Stakelum agreed that they are hoping to go one step further and bring Dan Breen back to the Cathedral town for the first time since 2017.
They are fully aware of the challenge they face in what for many is a tricky group with Moycarkey-Borris, Roscrea and a Mullinahone side heavily influenced by experience of the mercurial Eoin Kelly while Moycarkey will be hoping to get back on the horse after a nine-point 1-25 to 1-16 defeat to Loughmore-Castleiney in the recent Mid final.
In Group 1, North runners-up Toomevara will face near neighbours Borris-Ileigh first up in what promises to be a cracking opening round encounter while Drom & Inch will lock horns with a Kilruane MacDonaghs side hoping to atone for a disappointing season last year following their 2022 county triumph.
Toomevara captain Liam Ryan is fully aware the Greyhounds face formidable opposition in the challenge of the men in maroon in their opening round encounter.
“We know we are in a tough group and while we are disappointed following the North final, we just have to drive on now and we are fully focused on the challenge of Borris-Ileigh,” Ryan said.
“Hopefully, we can get off to a good start and look we will always back ourselves. We will not be taking anyone for granted, Borris-Ileigh especially, they will be looking at us especially after they had a disappointing North campaign. We have to be fully focused on them.”
Ryan agreed that there has been steady improvement in Toomevara over the past year or so with a benchmark being their performances against the reigning county champions.
“If we can stay improving in every game we go out and play we will keep on getting better,” he added.
“You have to take positives out of performances too. Last year in the county semi-final it was an eight-point loss and it’s back to three in the recent North final. Hopefully if we meet them again it will be narrowed a bit more.”
So, strap yourselves in and start your engines as we go full throttle over the coming months for what promises to be a cracking county senior hurling championship.
See fixtures on page 51.