Lone Shark wrote:The bit that surprises me is that while moving the game to Tullamore is a sound decision on a few levels, even from a Ballyhale perspective, I'm still amazed that the Shamrocks agreed to it. After all, the underlying message is quite clear - they simply don't think that an upset is remotely possible here. After all, if you felt that on a bad day, Tullamore were maybe good enough to nick a one or two point win, why would agree to go into their home field where you increase the lieklihood of that occurence? Why play in front of a crowd of seven or eight thousand fans in Tullamore looking for a home win, when you could play in front of the hardcore support of both clubs and feck all neutrals in Dr Cullen Park?
I think this is a clear signal from Ballyhale that they think that they simply can't lose this game, no matter what happens, and they want to make it as competitive an exercise as possible.
I also think that it's great that someone else has made a statement like this instead of me, so I don't have to. But that's beside the point.
The shamrocks don't mind playing in tullamore, its like when Birr were at their best they didn't care where they had to play.
that birr team had only 2 home games kiltegan of wicklow 94, and Ratharney . why wouldn't shamrocks agreed to it when you are good enough
you don't mind were you play. Birr went to nowlan park the last to years won 1 lost 1, but didn't mind going there shamrocks are the same. if anything it will make shamrocks more aware of tullamore.
the reason ballyhale dont mind playing in tullamore is because it is a far better playing surface than o moore park or dr cullen park no other reason .
Kemo Sabe wrote:the reason ballyhale dont mind playing in tullamore is because it is a far better playing surface than o moore park or dr cullen park no other reason .
I'd agree completely that Dr Cullen Park is not quite as conditioned as you'd like for hurling, but O'Moore Park is generally very decent, I wouldn't have thought that there would have been much between that and OCP in terms of quality of the pitch. That said, there would be others of much more playing experience who'd be better qualified to argue this than me!
Kevin Egan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.
Kemo Sabe wrote:the reason ballyhale dont mind playing in tullamore is because it is a far better playing surface than o moore park or dr cullen park no other reason .
I'd agree completely that Dr Cullen Park is not quite as conditioned as you'd like for hurling, but O'Moore Park is generally very decent, I wouldn't have thought that there would have been much between that and OCP in terms of quality of the pitch. That said, there would be others of much more playing experience who'd be better qualified to argue this than me!
I can see your point LS and I dont think there would be much difference in the pitch quality between OCP and O'Moore Pk but we seen on Sunday how the pitch in O'Moore Park cut up in those conditions. I don't think it will be a problem for O'Moore Park to host the football on Saturday however if the wet conditions continue and another 60mins of football are played on it, I couldn't see the pitch being in any fit state to host a hurling game, never mind an important Leinster Club Final.
On the question of Ballyhale agreeing to come to Tullamore, I think it's hard to know what their basis for agreeing are but you'd have to think that Ballyhale are very confident of beating Tullamore and feel that it doesn't matter where they play. It would be a great lift for the county if Tullamore won it on Sunday however I just can't see it happening.
uibhfhailiabu wrote:
I can see your point LS and I dont think there would be much difference in the pitch quality between OCP and O'Moore Pk but we seen on Sunday how the pitch in O'Moore Park cut up in those conditions. I don't think it will be a problem for O'Moore Park to host the football on Saturday however if the wet conditions continue and another 60mins of football are played on it, I couldn't see the pitch being in any fit state to host a hurling game, never mind an important Leinster Club Final.
To be fair, any pitch would have cut up in those conditions, OCP would have been no different. Obviously playing the two games at the one venue was not an option, completely agree in that regard. Still, if they insisted on a neutral venue, they could easily have had Dr. Cullen Park, or even Parnell Park, so that's why I'm surprised. It really does show that they don't consider an upset to be remotely possible.
Kevin Egan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.
'We'll show Ballyhale the same respect that we showed Birr' - veteran Tullamore stopper Damian Fox.
DAMIAN FOX’S earliest memory is standing in with the Tullamore hurling team, moments before the Offaly county final, with a blue and white flag in his hand. His father, Eamonn, stands next to him, with a hurl in hand, readying himself to play at midfield. It’s 1964, he’s three years old, and as club mascot, Fox provides the little extra luck they desire, as Tullamore win only their ninth Offaly title since 1909.
Fast forward 13 years. Age 16, Fox is again standing in with the Tullamore hurling team, this time as a player. Any day now, he thinks, there’ll be an Offaly title on my mantelpiece too. It’s 1977. Instead, as luck steadily abandons him, the years pass slowly by, then pass quickly. Fast forward again to the start of the 2009 season; Tullamore still haven’t won an Offaly title in the intervening 45 years, and Fox, naturally, is now aged 48.
Every year the AIB Club Championship throws up a tale of spirit and perseverance that captures the imagination, but not even the fairies could have written this one. Last month, with his father and other members of the 1964 winning team watching tearfully from the stands, Fox finally collected that Offaly title, beating Kilcormac-Killoughey in the county final, having vanquished the likes of Birr and St Rynagh’s in the previous rounds. Fox, playing in goal, had fittingly kept a clean sheet.
Goalkeeping is the position he probably knows best, but over his 32 years playing with Tullamore, Fox played in a variety of positions, mostly corner forward. It’s his natural strike of the ball, from any position, which earned him the nickname “the Gift” – and Tullamore will be looking towards that gift yet again, on home ground, when taking on Ballyhale Shamrocks in Sunday’s Leinster Club hurling final.
Given their long wait for senior hurling success, it’s a first Leinster final for Tullamore, and although he’s a man in high demand, Fox is happy to recount his story. Not only is he polite about it, he soon reveals an infectious enthusiasm for his sport. Retirement, with or without an Offaly title, was never an option. “No, I never once stopped hurling down through the years,” he says. “I’ve always been playing, and I suppose just love hurling. Everything about the game. I love the craic in the dressingroom as well, going down to training, all that kind of stuff.
“I think as well an awful lot of players give it up because they think ‘I’m at this age now, I should give it up’. I look at the likes of George Foreman, Sugar Ray Leonard. They come back at age 44, 45 and box at the highest level. I don’t see this any different.
“It’s not just about looking after yourself. I’ve never had any serious injury. A lot of lads do have to give it up because of injury, but I think a lot more just get lazy, don’t want to go out in the rain anymore. That was never a problem for me. I love the training, love going to the hurling field, and I don’t find the recovery hard, at all. I do what I can do, and stay at it until I can’t do it anymore.
“Of course I never imagined I’d be a part of a Tullamore team preparing for a Leinster final, but I always thought the team would make it happen, someday. There have been a lot of good hurling teams in Tullamore down through the years, who just couldn’t get it together to win an Offaly championship.”
There have been a couple of turning points, starting with last year’s appointment of former All-Ireland winner Kevin Martin as player-manager (and now appointed as Westmeath manager). Also, take Martin, Fox, and Pete Kelly out of the team, and the average age of Tullamore drops way down to the early 20s.
“A lot happened during the year. Tullamore is a dual club, and promotes football and hurling equally. Around Tullamore football is normally the stronger option. But this year they didn’t get off to a very good start, and went out quite early. We got a good run at it, and picked up some momentum. At the same time we’d be pushing each other, rising each other, and I think that’s made for a very strong and resilient group.
“I think the big turning point was against St Rynagh’s in the quarter-final. We were eight or nine points down in the second half. Kevin came on as a sub, and galvanised the whole team.
“We gained a good bit of self-belief from that, and carried it into the Birr match. We fancied ourselves, even though no else did. But Birr have been the benchmark in Offaly hurling, in Ireland for that matter, for years, and the lads just seemed to step up to the challenge.
“I know this is a bigger step again on Sunday. But we’ll show Ballyhale the same respect that we showed Birr. We’ll play them the same way. We’ll see what happens. Our spirit will be right. Whether we have the armoury is another question.”
Ballyhale Shamrocks secretary Sean O'Sullivan has insisted that the Kilkenny champions have "no major problem" travelling to Tullamore for Sunday's Leinster club hurling final.
The final was originally fixed for O'Moore Park, but the abandonment of last Sunday's Leinster football semi-final between Portlaoise and Clara forced a rethink.
With the football game rescheduled for Portlaoise this Saturday, the Leinster Council decided to move the hurling final to O'Connor Park owing to fears that the O'Moore Park pitch wouldn't be capable of taking two games in 24 hours.
But while disappointed at the provincial body's refusal to toss for the venue, Ballyhale aren't making a fuss over having to face first-time finalists Tullamore in their own backyard.
O'Sullivan told the Irish Daily Star that the club's overriding concern was that the game was played this weekend.
"Ballyhale club could have insisted to keep it in Portlaoise, but if I get a phone call next Saturday night after the football match and the place is not playable, you are back to square one," he said.
"We could have insisted on a toss but we have to try and be fair to everyone. Tullamore is not ideal for us. It's an extra hour for us up the road from Portlaoise but so be it.
"Maybe our spectators are probably more annoyed about the venue going to Tullamore than the team and management are. At the end of the day, it's a hurling match and we want to win it whether we play it in Nowlan Park, Tullamore or Portlaoise."
"We could have insisted on a toss but we have to try and be fair to everyone. Tullamore is not ideal for us. It's an extra hour for us up the road from Portlaoise but so be it.
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Are they cycling or driving to Tullamore?
'if your not part of the solution, your part of the problem' J. McClean
