Quirke prominent in the minds of Thurles’ success
By Stephen Barry
Thurles CBS manager Niall Cahill wore Dillon Quirke’s number two jersey on the sideline as Thurles CBS reclaimed the Harty Cup for the first time since 2015.
Quirke was corner-back on the last CBS side to win the trophy as his influence has never been forgotten in his alma mater since his tragic passing in August 2022 – and never will be.
“I didn’t want to say anything to any of the boys all week, but I put on Dillon’s jersey from 2015 underneath,” Cahill revealed.
“I wanted him here and he helped us. He is something else. He just helped us.
“He is such a loss to Clonoulty, the school, everything. I didn’t want to burden the boys with anything about emotion.
“We have a picture inside in the dressing room of Dillon. We don’t allude to it or mention it, but the boys know who he is.
“Evelyn Heffernan works with us and two of her boys, Enda and Ronan, were playing in 2015, best of friends with Dillon. I said it to her during the week and the two of us got emotional thinking of going back to Mallow with the same amount of lads, 53 on the panel, same as we had back then.
“The match wasn’t even meant to be here. It was meant to be in Kilmallock, but the stand got blown down and we ended up here.
“You just knew coming down there was something bigger happening. Just delighted to think of Dillon and remember him on the day that is in it because he lived for Harty and just loved that medal so much.”
Cahill was thankful to so many for Thurles’ success and support. Ronan Teehan, captain in 2015, walked past during the chat. Plenty more of Teehan and Quirke’s old teammates were enjoying a barbeque together in Sydney while streaming the match.
Paddy Linden, a teacher at St Mary’s CBGS, Belfast, who hosted the Thurles team in December, travelled down from Tyrone at 6am to greet the team off the bus at Mallow.
“One of a kind” goalkeeper Harry Loughnane couldn’t pick up a hurley for the previous ten days and played the last two games through the agony of a broken finger.
And Éamonn Buckley, Paddy McCormack, and Paul Downey were credited with putting years of work into the older crew to get them to this Harty Cup success.