Offaly SHC County Final 18/10/09 @ 15:30

[GreatDayForTheParish]

Great stuff POTH, thanks for that and I echo the question from 'TheManFromFerbane'.

[GreatDayForTheParish]

I heard an uncomfirmed statistic today that the free count at the Birr-Tullamore semi-final was 38-11 in favour of Tullamore.

Let me begin by saying that I am not from Birr nor do I have any connections with that club/team. However, that seems like a damning statistic. Incredible actually and is a terrible refelction on the referee's performance. On top of this Birr were never regarded as a dirty team. I was at the game and to say some of the decisions were crazy would be understating how poor the referee was. I knew the free count was heavily in favour of Tullamore but I hadn't thought it was that bad. Now I'm not saying for one second that all games must automatically have an even free count but 38-11 just seems plain wrong. As I was at the game, I can confidently say that it was indeed wrong, in more ways than one.

I also heard that when the GAA weekend results were being read on the radio that night (or perhaps it was Sunday night) that the presenter even criticised the referee live on air.

Can anybody confirm this or indeed that the if that figure for the free count is true?

[joe bloggs]

I'd be amazed if that free count is correct for two reasons ( although i heard the ref was poor too)

1. I have never seen a hurling match with anything near 49 frees, and
2. If a free count was 3.5/1 in a game how would the ref get off the field alive.

[GreatDayForTheParish]

I'd be amazed if that free count is correct for two reasons ( although i heard the ref was poor too)

1. I have never seen a hurling match with anything near 49 frees, and
2. If a free count was 3.5/1 in a game how would the ref get off the field alive.

Agreed but the question remains what the free count was. It certainly would be interesting to know for definite.

[1964]

lone shark your like a broken record you cant help getting a dig at tullamore be it not fielding in under 21 or "holding back players for the junior b team or totally ruling out the tullamore challenge in the hurling read it again last night jaysus it was terrible

poth you defo could get a job in a local paper with reviews like that .

baz a bit harsh on tullamore . birr are always fighting like kids but most of the time but there quality gets them thru but not this time tonto.

as regards the ref he is an atrocious football ref and from what i saw last week he is a terrible hurling ref on the free count i havent a notion if they count is right but can remember during the match thinking we got maybe 4 soft frees and some clear fouls on tullamore were not given either same as birr were not given frees when they were fouled, maybe i am biased(defo biased) but i still think tullamore would have won no matter who the ref was maybe the free count has something to do with the fact that birr were frustrated to be losing and thus gave away the frees

[Lone Shark]

lone shark your like a broken record you cant help getting a dig at tullamore be it not fielding in under 21 or "holding back players for the junior b team or totally ruling out the tullamore challenge in the hurling read it again last night jaysus it was terrible

Honest to feckin basic Jesus Christ. Talk about give a dog a bad name.

I have no feelings for or against Tullamore any more than any other club in the county. I can't say this enough. With regard to the preview, well there are two ways of doing these things - I could be like every other journo and predict "a close game" in every single match, even when it's Kilkenny hurlers playing fifteen blind nuns, or I could actually say what I'm thinking, and hopefully - give something that people want to read. Now I'm not saying that's the category we were facing into in this game, but Tullamore had no significant form on the board and a repeat of any of their previous seven performances would have led to a comfortable Birr win. Now I'm happy to say that the Blues raised their game considerably and it's great for Offaly hurling that they did so, but while I've heard all the stories about Damien Fox reading out the segment for motivation, the fact remains that motivation alone wouldn't have been enough here so I can't understand the amount of fuss over this.

As for the other issues, can I respectfully suggest playing the ball rather than the man. If you disagree with me on any of those areas, then by all means bring it up at the time. That would be a lot more constructive than simply presuming that I have a chip on my shoulder.

[Kemo Sabe]

think your being a bit harsh on loneshark 1964.we all know loneshark has a secret love for all things tullamore

[Plain of the Herbs]

A superb interview with Damien Fox on today's Sindo. Would someone mind posting it up please?

I knew he hurled Under 21 with Joe Dooley and Mick Coughlan and those, but I never did the sums. He's 48!! He was mascot in 1964 when he was 3, the paper printed the team photo and he's there!!

I remember when his dad, Eamonn trained Lusmagh in '82 and '83. They were training in Francie's field one evening. I was a young fella hanging around and Eamonn sent me out to his Renault 12 which was parked on the road to retrieve his fags for him!! A little-known claim to fame of mine

[bazza]

A superb interview with Damien Fox on today's Sindo. Would someone mind posting it up please?

I knew he hurled Under 21 with Joe Dooley and Mick Coughlan and those, but I never did the sums. He's 48!! He was mascot in 1964 when he was 3, the paper printed the team photo and he's there!!

I remember when his dad, Eamonn trained Lusmagh in '82 and '83. They were training in Francie's field one evening. I was a young fella hanging around and Eamonn sent me out to his Renault 12 which was parked on the road to retrieve his fags for him!! A little-known claim to fame of mine

THIS is the story of a hurler who is hoping to reach the summit of his art at the age of 48.

Last Saturday evening, as the final whistle blew in the Offaly semi-final at O'Connor Park, Damian Fox found himself stuck in a moment. Tullamore had just snuck into their first county senior final since 1964. On that occasion, 45 years ago, Fox served as the club's mascot, now he would finally get to play in a final himself.

The result came as a surprise in hurling circles. Old reliables Birr were seeking five titles in a row, having won nine of the previous 10. Tullamore's form had been patchy all year; they certainly didn't look like challengers, but they pulled off a shock and now, for the first time since 1998, Birr will not be involved on Offaly final day.

While Shane Dooley bagged 0-11 to seal the famous win, it was Fox, 10 years older than Brian Whelahan, and Tullamore's player-manager Kevin Martin who were surrounded at the end.

Way back in 1977, Fox made his first appearance on an adult team for the club at just 16. The pedigree was strong; his father Eamonn, who played for Offaly in the 1969 Leinster final against Kilkenny, won three hurling and three football county titles. The son only ever wanted one.

"That's the reason I was so overwhelmed at the end of the Birr game," he says. "The memories of it all came flooding back. I know we have nothing won yet but it was still the happiest day of my hurling career. I met my father on the pitch and he just said: 'thanks.' That really set me off."

If Fox, the former Laois senior hurling manager, left the field crying tears of happiness, the mood lightened in the dressing room when selector Alo Lawlor stood to talk. Earlier in the week, Lawlor had collected €5 a man from the squad and no one had asked why. Standing in front of them he told them he'd collected €150 and put it on them to beat Birr. The odds were 9/1.

"Look, as I keep saying, there's no trophy in the bag and we were back down to earth at training last Monday night, but this is special all the same," Fox reasons. "When I saw Kevin Martin coming through as a young lad and he was part of a good minor team, I said I'd hang around and wait for them to come through. Maybe I'd get a chance to play in a final with them. But I waited and played on and it didn't happen. So I saw some of this current team standing out at U12, 14 and 16 over recent years and decided to hang on for them too. I'm glad I did."

Fox fell in love with hurling at an early age but to be still playing in such competitive environs in a serious hurling county is astonishing. Nor is he there simply to fill a gap. He played in goal for Offaly in their 1982 Leinster final defeat to Kilkenny and knows the position well. True, he spent most of his life hurling at corner-forward, winning the club's 2001 Player of the Year award at the age of 40, but he reverted back to goals last season, not yet ready to go out to grass.

"I'd play anywhere they want me to," he shrugs. "I don't know what the hell it is, I just love hurling. Even at home I'd be hitting a ball off the wall on my own. I couldn't be without it, I suppose. I remember my father playing in games when I was just four or five. I actually remember being there, rambling around the pitches."

Fox emigrated to the US in 1983 and missed the chance to make the glorious Offaly team of that decade. But hurling called in New York and again in the UK where he won an All-Ireland B with London in 1985.

Not long after, he came home, returned to the local hurling field. Tullamore, who had been out of the top flight for years, graduated from intermediate to senior hurling, not bad for a club primarily considered a football outfit.

They battled against the odds: lack of numbers, the threat of football and the complexity of trying to run a GAA club in a town. It wasn't easy, but Fox reckons they've reached this juncture because they're such a tight-knit bunch.

"There were a few shenanigans this year over the use of O'Brien Park (Tullamore's home ground) and there were times when we struggled to get a pitch to train on because football is so big here and there were so many teams looking to use the field," he explains. "O'Connor Park (opposite O'Brien Park) is our home too, but that's leased to the county board so there just wasn't enough room. It was frustrating trying to train. We lost three games this year so there has been some criticism, but all that has only brought us tighter to be honest."

Indeed, Fox himself was on the receiving end of flak when they lost to Belmont earlier in the season. He got the blame for two soft goals, but they recovered to beat Ballyskenagh in a play-off and then St Rynagh's in the quarter-final.

And last Saturday evening he was steady as a rock. It was impossible not to be mesmerised by the rhythm of his lengthy puck-outs, which may explain where his nickname 'The Gift' comes from. He made a crucial second half save and pulled a very dangerous Rory Hanniffy ball out of the air, which was particularly impressive as similar passages against Belmont resulted in goals conceded. He was quick off his line and his clearances were excellent.

"Tullamore is a great town for sport and there are brilliant facilities with the Harriers Athletic club and Tullamore FC too. So there's no excuse for not being sharp. I play a game of soccer in the morning if needed. People wonder how I keep going but as long as my wife Trisha is okay with it, then so am I. I consult her on everything and she's fine with me doing this.

"As long as she can watch Coronation Street and do her own few things, I can keep going. There was a stage last winter when I was at home playing no sport and a call came to go playing soccer. Trisha actually begged me to go; she said I was driving her mad being around the house all the time. It just doesn't suit me."

It certainly doesn't. Until last season he was in charge of the Laois senior hurling team and next year, aside from playing, he'll coach the Offaly minor hurlers. Only last month he was part of a GAA legends team that played a charity soccer match against Manchester United greats including Lee Martin, Arthur Albiston, David May, Frank Stapleton and Clayton Blackmore. They lost 3-1 but he enjoyed testing himself against former professionals.

"I actually had to get permission from Kevin Martin to play," he laughs. "Kevin was confident that we'd give the championship a good run and wanted us focused on hurling only. But he agreed to let me play. The Man Utd boys were great lads, I played golf with them afterwards. We took that game very seriously; there were the likes of Tommy Carr (Fox's first cousin), Graham Geraghty, Vinny Claffey and Paul Bealin. I wanted to win, we all did."

And the Offaly minors? "I checked with Trisha again and just decided to go for it, it was time to have a cut at it. It's nice to be back coaching with Offaly and it's a good start for me. We have some good lads and I suppose if I have any aspirations this is a good place to start."

His time in Laois gave him a good grounding. He did some great work there, organised things, set down structures and made sure things were done right. But deep down he struggled to comprehend their mindset, players not training and all that. Here was a guy approaching 50 and still bursting his gut to play senior club hurling while fellows less than half his age couldn't summon the will to play for their county. .

"I highlighted a few things when I left," he says. "Look, Laois have hurlers as good as anywhere in the land, but the club scene takes priority there. Lads are more or less encouraged to stick with the clubs and warned there won't be much reward playing for their county. One of my first jobs was to organise things, making sure lads were fixed up with gear and expenses, all that. I would have stayed there with them but it was in the best interests of Laois that I step down and highlight other problems. Niall Rigney is improving things again and the key is to keep that going when Niall goes. I think the lads are finally getting the message that the Laois county team is as important as their clubs."

Fox's time on the line set the ball rolling and he even guided them to a bittersweet league win over Offaly last year. Since then, Rigney and Brother Philip Ryan's injection of enthusiasm and tactical hurling has developed them further. Looking back, it was an experience. Looking forward, he will now relish the thrill of playing his first ever county senior final. Emotion could easily get the better of others, but Fox has been around long enough.

If they lose, he will feel the pain of defeat very deeply. He knows what's at stake. There was a serious afterglow of satisfaction when they beat Birr but Pad Joe Whelehan's words in the immediate aftermath of that game brought them down to earth with a bang. "Pad Joe said it was all very well beating Birr, but it wouldn't matter a hoot if we lose the final," Fox recalls. "And he's dead right. We're playing a team just as up for it as ourselves.

"Look, obviously it would be a right fairytale if we win, but the flip side of that is that Kilcormac Killoughey have never won a county title at all. So they'll be just as hungry as us. I only hope that the experience some of our lads have of winning county football titles will stand to us next Sunday. It's a big day for all of us. But isn't it great to be playing at this level? You hear stories of lads playing into their 60s and all that but this is a serious standard and I'm thrilled. Jesus, where else would I be?"

Nowhere else. Doesn't matter what age he is, this is where he belongs.

Sunday Independent

[corner back]

He made the Sunday Tribune also:

The Gift That Keeps On Giving
Tullamore are hoping to end a 45-year wait for victory in the Offaly SHC with Damien 'Gift' Fox leading them
Brian Jaffray

What's another year: Tullamore hurling goalkeeper Damien Fox with his father Eamonn Fox
The 1964 Tullamore team with a young Fox as mascot in the centre of the front row, his father Eamonn is kneeling on the extreme right of the front row
Fox in action for Tullamore
123The black and white picture is from a different era. A different world, a different century. It paints a thousand words. Fifteen burly men preparing to do battle. Pride of the parish at stake.




There in the middle is the team's mascot. Flag in hand, Damien Fox is just three years old. Team captain Andy Gallagher has a protective arm around the toddler. His father Eamonn is just a few feet away.




In its way this is an historic picture that captures a moment in time. A special moment for Tullamore and a magical moment for the Fox household. It was the last time Tullamore won the Offaly senior hurling championship.




That was a year before Damien started school. The Beatles were storming America, man was five years from landing on the moon, and Nelson Mandela was sent to Robben Island. But the little lad in the front of the picture was in a world of his own. He was mascot for his heroes and no greater honour could befall a three year old in the swinging '60s.




"It's strange I can't remember anything about the match that day in Birr but to this day I remember my mother knitting me the blue jumper with white stripes that I was wearing. In my mind's eye I can still see, smell and feel the jumper in the picture," he says.




Forty-five years later, the street lights outside on the Arden Road begin to flicker as referee Kieran Groome calls time on the Offaly senior hurling semi-final at O'Connor Park.




Defending champions Birr have just been knocked off their pedestal. Eamonn Fox, midfielder in that 1964 team, is up in the stand. Tears roll down his face. Just a puck of the ball away his son Damien is also struggling with his emotions. Tullamore have reached their first final since that autumn day when he was a little mascot.




To a man, teammates and supporters all run to Fox in the Tullamore goal. They know what it means to the club but especially to the 'Gift'. When football was all the rage in the town in the '80s and '90s, it was Damien and a few others who kept hurling alive. His prowess with the hurley led to the nickname. It has stuck with him to this day.




After Tullamore won in 1964, hurling just seemed to fizzle out in the town. Men like Pat Heffernan and Joe Bracken worked hard to keep the flames alive. It wasn't easy as football was the predominant game.




The intervening years have been hard and bleak. Hurling was hardly even a minority sport in Tullamore. A few faithfuls tried to get something going. They started a street league. But it was an uphill struggle. Indeed many felt it was a lost cause.




Often there was no one to puck around with. Damien would spend hours knocking lumps out of the wall of the Williams –Waller depot – just over the green from his house in Marian Place. If he was unable to practise there, he'd make his way to the handball alley on the Daingean Road. Something kept him going. The man, known as 'the Gift' just loved the game.




"People ask me why I'm still playing at 48-years of age. It's easy. I just love hurling. I still go out the back of my own house and hit the sliotar up against the wall. Three years ago I was playing off four against Shane Lowry in Esker Hills but while I enjoy golf, give me a hurl and a sliotar any day. I'm living the dream."




Naturally, after such an apprenticeship he has strong views. "People who say it's a real indictment of hurling in Offaly that Tullamore are in the county final should look at the facts. We beat Birr, the best club team in Offaly over the last twenty years in the semi-final. And prior to that we beat St Rynagh's who are a household name throughout the country. Sure you can only beat what's in front of you."




Under the guidance of two-time All Star and player manager Kevin Martin, the Tullamore hurlers have become a force to reckon with in the county. "There are very good players on the team. A lot of them are dual players and many would get on any club team in the country. Kevin has been the best hurler to come out of Tullamore. He's after instilling that bit of self belief in the boys this year, big time."




Fox has been no stranger to success either. He won an All Ireland B Championship medal with London in 1985, guided Portlaoise to a Laois title and the O'Moore County hurlers to a Divsion 2 League title, was recently appointed coach to the Offaly minors and says he would love to manage the senior team if the chance ever came along. But for now his mind is focused on O'Connor Park next Sunday.




Amid all the hype and build-up to the final, his mind goes back to the times when so few lads in Tullamore wanted to play hurling. He was there that June afternoon in 1980 up on Hill 16 with his father when Offaly won their first Leinster title. "We were one of the 9,000 who were there and have the pictures to prove it," he jokes.




He remembers too playing hurling with his cousins Declan and Tom Carr in the grounds of The King's Hospital. "Uncle Packy was caretaker there and it was like growing up in heaven. You had hockey, swimming, rugby, cricket, tennis. We had the run of The King's Hospital to ourselves. Even after the match at Croke Park we would head back and play hurling until it got dark on the Sunday night. Tom swam with King's Hospital and not many people know that he won a Leinster swimming medal with King's Hospital."




This day next week 'the Gift' will again pose for the photographers before the final against Kilcormack/Killoughey. Forty-five years after he last posed for the cameraman before an Offaly decider Fox will again be the centre of attention. Victory would complete the picture and Fox's incredible hurling adventure.

October 11, 2009

[Plain of the Herbs]

Lawlor makes a hames of it again!! This error was pointed out to me by a neighbour last night - Fox hurled in goal for Offaly U21's in 1982. The impression given is that t'was the senior final which is incorrect.

Fox fell in love with hurling at an early age but to be still playing in such competitive environs in a serious hurling county is astonishing. Nor is he there simply to fill a gap. He played in goal for Offaly in their 1982 Leinster final defeat to Kilkenny and knows the position well. True, he spent most of his life hurling at corner-forward, winning the club's 2001 Player of the Year award at the age of 40, but he reverted back to goals last season, not yet ready to go out to grass.

[juteman]

Just want to say the LS articles are the most interesting to read and a lot of the others you could just change the team names as they contain repetitious BS.
Also Tullamore last won it in 1964 and Clara won the football title the same year.

[Plain of the Herbs]

Kilcormac-Killoughey and Tullamore have met eight times since Tullamre resumed their senior status in 1991, the record reading 6 – 2 in K-K’s favour. They have also met twice in knockout matches in that time, having met in the quarter finals of 2002 and last year, with K-K winning both, 0-9 to 0-8 in 2002 and 1-23 to 1-13 last year. Full details are as follows:-

2/5/93 Kilcormac-Killoughey 2-16 Tullamore 1-8 (group, round 2)
25/9/94 Kilcormac-Killoughey 2-9 Tullamore 0-8 (group, round 5)
20/5/95 Kilcormac-Killoughey 2-10 Tullamore 1-6 (group, round 1)
24/8/02 Kilcormac-Killoughey 0-9 Tullamore 0-8 (quarter final)
9/8/03 Kilcormac-Killoughey 2-11 Tullamore 2-9 (group, round 2)
9/5/04 Tullamore 3-11 Kilcormac-Killoughey 1-9 (group, round 2)
28/7/07Tullamore 2-15 Kilcormac-Killoughey 1-11 (group, round 3)
6/9/08 Kilcormac-Killoughey 1-23 Tullamore 1-13 (quarter final)

[BUFFALO]

Allez les Blancs you mean?

Chapeau!
Allez Les Blancs!

[swiftpost]

28/7/07Tullamore 2-15 Kilcormac-Killoughey 1-11 (group, round 3)

Worth noting that John Leahy dropped some KK players for this match after leinster u21 final for disciplinary reasons.