Weekend of Plenty

IN ALL FAIRNESS

What a weekend for North Tipperary on the provincial and national stage!

There is a swell of pride in Roscrea, Thurles and Nenagh, and their surrounding hinterlands this week following the successes on the fields of play for their respective schools hurling and rugby teams.

Colaiste Phobal Ros Cré set the ball rolling on Friday with victory over Grennan College from Thomastown in the All-Ireland Post Primary Schools (PPS) Senior ‘D’ Hurling Final in Carlow.

It might be the fourth tier of senior schools hurling but this success was just what the Roscrea school needed after falling back through the grades over the past decade. It is a timely shot in the arm and reward for the clubs that have players in the school, and then their coaches Conor Sheedy and the evergreen Willie Smyth whose passion for the game and school is infectious.

CP Ros Cré follow in the footsteps of St Mary’s Secondary School Newport in keeping the Niall McInerney Cup in Tipperary for a second successive year, and considering they took the momentum from that succeed to reach a Munster ‘C’ final this year, only losing narrowly to a SMI Newcastle West side that went onto win the All-Ireland title last week also, there is no reason why Ros Cre can’t rise further.

It was strange to see a Ros Cré panel without players from Coolderry in Offaly, and Camross and Borris-Kilcotton in Laois, that may have played a part in their fall back through the grades in recent years, but you need to take care of your own patch first.

In recent years, we have seen players from Roscrea featuring for Thurles CBS at ‘A’ level, one of them in Harry Loughnane who played a key role in the schools Croke Cup success on St Patrick’s Day. Keeping yourself prominent in the eyes of county minor and under 20 management is seeing some players making their choice of school for hurling over educational reasons, which is their own choice, and indeed it is a fair commitment for those players to do so and travel longer distances to school each day, in some cases driving past a school on their way there.

Thurles CBS’ victory over Presentation College, Athenry in the Croke Cup final on St Parick’s Day was another vindication of the good work being done at underage level in Tipperary. This was a high class final, all that is good about hurling. When Thurles fell eight points down with twenty minutes to go, it felt harsh on a team that hadn’t played that poorly but had just been swamped by Athenry’s purple-patch.

What makes Thurles’ comeback victory even more heart-warming was it wasn’t just their quality play; it was also their never-say-die attitude. This didn’t come as a surprise as players such as Euan Murray, Cillian Minogue, and Tiarnan Ryan were part of the Tipperary minor team that refused to yield despite playing with thirteen men for most of last year’s All-Ireland final.

It could be a special trait amongst this age group, but I would hope it is an indication of an aspect through the development squads that not only are players improved physically and hurling wise, but also mentally, being able to cope with adversity, not throwing in the towel, and this is what we are seeing from Tipperary teams in all grades in recent times and it is great to see.

Nenagh Ormond’s senior men’s rugby team have the same traits of quality play and mental toughness, and both were needed in overcoming Old Crescent on Sunday to secure their Munster Senior Challenge Cup for the first time.

The favourites tag can be a burden and certainly it looked like it weighed heavily on them in the opening half of the final. Mmentally weaker teams would have panicked and ended up falling further behind on the scoreboard but they dug in, kept their line in tact, and by the time half time came around, going in level at 10-all, you sensed they wouldn’t lose it from there.

As the legendary Kilkenny hurling manager Brian Cody regularly said: “every game takes on a life of its own”. Games aren’t decided in advance, you have to perform and some days, for whatever reason, form and logic goes out the window and results don’t go true to form. Nenagh Ormond had to find a different way to win, and that will be the most satisfying aspect of their Munster Senior Cup success, they were challenged and found their way out of the whole.

Club rugby might not be to the forefront of the game nationally anymore, but it still remains the heartbeat in so many communities. Indeed Nenagh Ormond RFC have many of same characteristics that are generally attributed to GAA clubs in terms of their importance and strength in their locality, aided by the fact that the players don’t just represent Nenagh, areas such as Ballinahinch, Burgess, Kilruane, Silvermines and Toomevara, to name but five, are also sharing in their current run of success.