IN ALL FAIRNESS - Some reflections on the Sporting Year that was 2022

As we enter the final week of 2022, it is always a time for reminiscing in terms of the things that brought us joy and those that brought us disappointment and frustration, and sport tends to provide many of those emotions.

I’m not really one for Sports Reviews of the Year as sporting years tend to roll quickly from one year to the next so it doesn't provide much opportunity to breath and take stock of what went on in the year gone by. But here are a few high and low points that come to mind:

MOMENT OF THE YEAR

For many, 2022 will be defined by when they heard of the passing of Clonoulty/Rossmore and Tipperary senior hurler Dillon Quirke.

We have seen serious medical incidents happen across the world, some live on television, most notably Christian Erikson’s collapse while playing for Denmark in the delayed European Championships in 2021. Those moments when you are waiting for news are the most haunting as you are finding it hard to believe what is happening before your very eyes, that someone’s life is in the balance. Thankfully Christian managed to pull through and one of the high points of 2022 was that he was able to resume is footballing career with Brentford. Not only that, but he also got a move to Manchester United and was able to play in a World Cup for Denmark.

Sadly, Dillon Quirke didn’t get that reprieve. While watching a live-stream of the game between Clonoulty/Rossmore and Kilruane MacDonaghs that fateful evening in FBD Semple Stadium, you’re hoping for the best and fearing the worst, particularly as many in the local media would have been aware of his heart issue from late 2018.

One could only think that he was fortunate for it to happen in Thurles, rather than some regional ground, where it would take longer for an ambulance to get there. However, it wasn’t to be.

Nothing can prepare anyone, family, teammates, opponents, supporters for what happened that evening as a shining light of the Quirke family, and Clonoulty/Rossmore and Tipperary hurling went out. But his memory will live on!

OCCASION OF THE YEAR

It’s not often a minor hurling match overshadows a senior game but that is what happened on July 3rd when almost 22,000 people packed into UMPC Nowlan Park for the All-Ireland final between Tipperary and Offaly.

Taking the All-Ireland Minor finals out of Croke Park certainly robs those players involved a rare chance to play there but in terms of occasion, those same players will take as many memories from this final in Kilkenny.

It reminded me a lot of 2013 at the same venue when Kilkenny and Tipperary met in the All-Ireland Qualifiers. Then as in 2022, people were queuing at the gates over two and a half hours before throw-in to get the prime spots, for a match involving fifteen, sixteen and seventeen-year-olds. Incredible!

It won’t always be this way for an underage final as the GAA got lucky in that they had two local rivals, who rarely come across each other at the highest level any more, squaring off at a time when both craved national successes.

Not only did we get the occasion of the year, but we also got the finish of the year as Tipperary came from six points down with fourteen men, to snatch victory with Paddy McCormack’s last gasp goal. Those few seconds after the goal went in when the outnumbered Tipp fans went wild, and the Offaly fans jaws dropped in disbelief, provided some of the moments in time of the year.

GAME OF THE YEAR

The All-Ireland Minor Hurling Final between Tipperary and Offaly might have provided the Occasion and Ending of the year, but not the game of the year, although the Tipperary minors were involved in that as well.

That game was the All-Ireland semi-final when Tipperary and Galway met in the TUS Gaelic Grounds, Limerick. The only pity was that only three-thousand or so people were there to see it as the quality was off the scale.

It got the finish to match it as Tipperary looked like they had lost control at the vital time, but they showed the composure that would come good against in the All-Ireland Final, when scoring 1-2 deep in injury time to win 3-24 to 3-20.

ACHIEVEMENT OF THE YEAR

It has to be Kilruane MacDonaghs ending a 37 year wait for a County Senior Hurling Championship title.

The black and whites had been knocking on the door for much of the last decade but one sensed that maybe their best chance at winning another Dan Breen Cup had come and gone for this group of players.

However, being part of that tragic evening in Semple Stadium when Dillon Quirke lost his life, it appeared to galvanise Kilruane together even more, and to overcome their own set-backs, including the loss of star defender Craig Morgan to a season ending knee injury in the following game.

However, where there is a will there is a way and in the subsequent five games Kilruane played, including the final replay against Kiladangan, they showed they were mentally the toughest team in the championship and that more than anything got them over the line and provided some of the best scenes of 2022.

SHOCK OF THE YEAR

2022 always had the potential to be a difficult year as Tipperary moved on from Liam Sheedy’s second term in charge, and change was needed. Enforced change was something that was not and the retirement of Padraic Maher due to injury felt like a kick in the gut the entire panel and management never could recover from.

It was news that was so surprising that when the email came through announcing it, you had to read it a second or third time to make sure it wasn’t a prank.

It wasn’t just losing any player, but it was losing a presence in the dressing room which might well have helped when things got tough later in the championship when experience and leaders were needed.

LET-DOWN OF THE YEAR

Tipp v Clare or Tipp v Cork in the Munster Senior Hurling Championship, take your pick!

Home games are supposed to provide comfort and security but the experience of these two games in Semple Stadium in April and May, left Tipperary fans will little to take from the year.

The performances in defeat, away to Limerick and Waterford provided those two bright spots, but even then, you could argue the winning teams didn’t play up to scratch either.