Going a step further

Killinan End

Loughmore/Castleiney venture forth at the weekend towards an arena that has provided mixed returns for Tipp over the years. The county has one claim which puts it above all other counties in either Munster or Leinster – some nine Tipperary clubs have won provincial honours. Whatever misgivings we might have about underachievement this is testament to enduring strength in depth. Loughmore/Castleiney is a club that has always acquitted itself well in this competition since its initial foray into provincial competition in 1988 with a loss against Patrickswell, eventual Munster winners. Loughmore’s winning of the Munster title in 2007 beating Érin’s Own of Cork, Adare, and Tulla, along the way is as remarkable as anything achieved by this club. It was another renowned Mid Tipp club which took the pioneering steps for this county in the fledgling Munster championship of 1965. Thurles Sarsfields won the 1964 County Final at a canter. The semi-final win over Roscrea was tricky at times, but the Blues came through by five points to meet Holycross/Ballycahill who had beaten Eire Og Nenagh in a replayed semi-final. The final was dreadfully one-sided and if Sars has been brought to the brink in 1962 by Mid Tipp opposition in the form of Moycarkey/Borris, this final was fighting for competitive relevance after just a quarter of an hour. In the end the margin was 21 points and Mickey ‘Rattler’ Byrne has clocked up a record 13th County Senior medal. A little controversy echoed after this game when the Irish Press newspaper reported that the match had featured several bouts of “fisticuffs” before degenerating into a free-for-all in the second-half after which a couple of injured players had to leave the field. Tipp’s County Board was unimpressed and demanded an apology which one presumes was hardly forthcoming. Sarsfields’ prospective Munster opponents from Limerick did not have the historical gravitas of an Ahane but had plenty of form. Cappamore had not won a County Senior title for half a century when they struck gold in 1954 against Western Gaels, an area team from West Limerick. Cappamore included John Mulcahy, League medallist from 1947, and the youthful Ryan brothers, Séamus & Liam – the latter captained Limerick to an unexpected Munster title a year later. In 1956 Cappamore did the trick again beating a Claughaun team which included two of Mackey’s prime greyhounds, Dermot Kelly and Ralph Prendergast. Another win in the 1959 final over city team St Partick’s meant that the team in Green and Gold entered the 1964 County Final very much in their golden era. Their County Final opponents were unlikely to say the least. Dromcollogher, Junior champions a year earlier, were appearing in the only Senior final in their history. It was always a big ask and a fifth County title headed back to east Limerick with some ease. Sarsfields and Cappamore entered a rather unusual Munster championship as it included seven teams with the champions of Kerry and Galway, Kilmoyley and Turloughmore respectively, participating. Sars and Cappamore lined out at Leahy Park, Cashel in April 1965. There had been plenty of cross-border matches in Munster in recent decades, most notably in the Cork Churches tournament in the 1950’s, but now things were on a firmer footing. It was a Sarsfields’ team full of star names such as Jimmy Doyle and his brother Paddy, Tony Wall, Mickey Byrne – by then a grizzled old veteran, Seán McLoughlin – then at the height of his scoring powers, and Cork’s Tim Walshe. It appeared to be daunting task for Cappamore, but it never even got that good. Playing against a storm in the first-half the prognosis could hardly have been any more catastrophic by half-time. Thurles led 7-11 to 1-1 at the break and even with the elements it was an impossible situation for the Limerick champions. In the end it finished 9-15 to 4-5 which is a bad beating but in the context of the half-time situation at least pride was salvaged to an extent. This remains Cappamore’s only participation in the Munster club championship with just a couple of County Final appearances since (1984 & ’88). This might be the lot of a rural club but similar was to befall Sarsfields themselves. They retained the County title later in 1965 but won just one in the next four decades in the most remarkable downturn in Tipperary club hurling. Their subsequent semi-final game was in Waterford against Mount Sion, a club of similar profile. Sarsfields had won nine of the previous ten county titles. Mount Sion put even this in the shade with only one of the previous dozen evading their clutches. One description of this game was “as tough and gruelling an encounter as one is likely to see” and the Waterford champions prevailed by the narrowest margin. Seven of this Mount Sion team had started the 1963 All-Ireland hurling final including Philly Grimes, Martin Óg Morrissey, Mick Flannelly, Frankie Walsh, and Larry Guinan. Losing to a team of that quality was no shame. In many ways the task ahead of Loughmore/Castleiney is the modern equivalent but the margin could be as tight six decades later.