*Lorcan Fitzpatrick, David Kennedy and Jason Loughnane celebrate. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
Giorraíonn beirt bóthar and Stiofán Fitzpatrick and Tommy Liddy wasted no time in shortening the road to the TUS Senior Hurling Championship final, the pair are in their first season as joint managers of Sixmilebridge.
“Coming in, the county final was the furthest thing from our thoughts,” admits Tommy Liddy. “It was just about getting everyone available to sign up for the year. Once we had that done, the focus turned to the league and trying to develop the panel. It’s not a mystery that there was a lot of ageing bodies on the panel over the last couple of years so we were trying to freshen up with younger legs. That was the next job at hand”.
The Clare Cup brought mixed results, fourth place in the round robin and the chance to try new things. For what it’s worth, it also brought a five-point defeat to Feakle.
“That first win in the championship is what’s most important,” says Liddy. “If you start having to chase points, that’s when you’re looking down instead of up. We secured the two points against Barefield in a really tough game for us. Then you can start looking at getting out of the group and once you’re out of the group, sure it takes on a life of its own. I think every team in Clare is like that. It’s such a tight championship. Until you have those first two points under the belt, there’s no looking forward”.
Liddy and Fitzpatrick spoke to The Clare Echo on the Friday after their win over Inagh/Kilnamona via extra time and penalties. “It was a titanic battle,” says Stiofán Fitzpatrick. “We always talk about 60 or 65 minutes of hurling when we address the players before a game. This was 85 minutes and we had the added drama of penalties. They were emotionally draining rather than physically draining. It was a new departure for a lot of these players and for us trying to manage it and understand it and the complications around the five players being reused in different orders.
“It takes a while to come down from that. You always want as much time as possible to get recovered, refocused and recalibrated again. But it’s the nature of the championship. It’s been every two weeks since it started and every club adapts to that. You know that structure and it’s actually been very helpful, because you know win-lose-or-draw you’ve to go again and face the next game. It’s no different this time around”.
Both coaches mention ageing bodies. They leave out the part where over half the panel have five championship medals. Jamie Shanahan and Shane Golden have both scored in all those wins. They’ll be making their eighth final appearance along with Derek Fahy, Seadna Morey, Caimin Morey and Páidí Fitzpatrick. Those days out include the drawn game with Clooney Quin in 2017 and a grim 0-10 to 0-4 defeat by Crusheen in 2010.
“Know-how comes from experience,” says Stiofán. “It’s the same in life as it is on the playing field. These boys have experiences a lot in the hurling world. They’ve experienced winning and losing championships and Munster club games. They’ve experienced not getting out of groups. All of that builds into know-how. You know if you’re not at your best on a given day, the opposition could beat you. It’s a learning curve. You also have to have the work done and the training done. That’s what puts yourself in the position to lean on that experience”.
Both joint managers are wary of the threat presented by Feakle. Video analysis, like their opponents, is a key part of preparations.
“Obviously there are certain areas of their game that we’ll have to clamp down on,” says Tommy. “Shane McGrath is a brilliant player. It’s no surprise to anyone how well he’s played over the past number of weeks. He’s an athlete and he’s in extraordinary shape. He’s everything you’d look for as a hurler.
“His support cast aren’t too shabby either. They’ve three county seniors and Oisín Donnellan is in the form of his life. Stevie Conway is a player I’ve seen a lot of underage and he’s not even making the first time at the moment, coming back from injury. They’ve a lot of strings to their bow.
“They won’t just be focusing on trying to get Shane into the match, they know that they’ve a lot of different attributes and we have to focus on more than just Shane McGrath too. He’s obviously been the player of the championship and he’s putting up scores every day he goes out but the lads around him are all producing too”.
There are 50 odd clubs in Clare looking forward to this decider. Most of them will root for the team without a win in this century over the team looking for their fifth title in a decade. Sixmilebridge understand that.
“It’s human nature,” says Stiofán. “When Clare or Sixmilebridge aren’t involved you might be willing on a team that hasn’t been as successful as the other team over the years to win. But it’s not something we pay much attention to. We worry about what goes on in the four walls of our dressing room and the four white lines of the pitch. We’re not concerned with the side shows”.
It’s obvious that Liddy and Fitzpatrick work well together. Tommy would consider himself ‘good cop.’ Stiofán is inclined to agree and reckons most of the players would agree too.
“Tommy’s very organised,” says Stiofán, “and in charge of a lot of the everyday operations of the team. I might be more positioned to deal with issues that arise over the course of the year. To make sure everybody is happy in the camp. If there’s issues, that they’re dealt with and don’t linger. There’s two other lads heavily involved and we have healthy discussions on everything. In general, we normally reach a unanimous verdict when it comes down to it. It hasn’t got to the situation yet where there’s been a standoff”.
What a year it’s been for hurling in Clare. Everyone is hoping for a club showpiece to match.
“It’s kind of an unexpected county final,” says Tommy. “Things were just starting to settle down in the village after Clare won the All-Ireland. I think it came as a surprise that we got over the line in the quarter-final and a bigger surprise to get over the line in the semi-final.
“I think people are just trying to get their heads around that we’re actually in a county final. There’s a nice little buzz building.”
Whoever wins, that nice little buzz might just take the roof of the stand in Cusack Park on
Sunday.
