SHINSATIONAL
Sampson admits Offaly victory left him weak at the knees
THE result seemed a formality from early in the second half but, when the final whistle sounded, Jason Sampson still went weak at the knees.
He would become the first Shinrone man to collect the Sean Robbins Cup, the trophy that has been presented to the senior hurling champions in Offaly since 1960, when the small village that straddles the Tipperary border contested their only previous final.
A one-point defeat to Drumcullen was their lot back then as Paddy Molloy, the prince of Offaly hurling in that era, became the first captain to lift the trophy.
It was Drumcullen’s 17th title but they haven’t won another since, while Shinrone’s decline was even more abrupt in the aftermath of that defeat.
Having been ravaged by emigration, they had dropped to junior ranks within six years. Players like Pat Cleary and Brendan Keeshan contributed to Offaly’s All-ireland success in the 1980s but the club weren’t considered serious contenders locally until bridging the lengthy gap to their previous final appearance this year. It wasn’t completely out of the blue, however. Shinrone had won six underage titles from under-14 to under-21 in the last decade, while their second team was strong enough to win the intermediate championship two years ago.
It all paved the way for Sampson becoming the first Shinrone man to get his hands on the Sean Robbins Cup after an impressive 0-26 to 2-13 win over Kilcormac/killoughey on Sunday.
“It’s a massive honour,” said
Sampson, who contributed 0-4 to the victory.
“It’s a huge honour. You’re trying to play it down all week, people asking you and all the rest.
“It’s massive. can’t even put it into words. I’d probably get emotional. I could hardly stand up there at the final whistle but it’s not about me being captain or it’s not about any individual. We thought for many a year we mightn’t get here and just to get over the line, it’s massive.”
While Shinrone have enjoyed a run of underage success themselves of late, Kilcormac/killoughey have been utterly dominant in that regard over the last number of years with several of their players among the standouts on the Offaly minor team that came agonisingly close to All-ireland glory this year.
Sampson added: “In fairness to Kilcormac, the hurlers they have coming through and the hurlers they have anyway, unbelievable. There’s massive work going on there but there’s massive work going on across a lot of clubs in Offaly and loads of hurlers coming through.
“You see it there with that good minor team this year. But no, it’s definitely not a case of getting one before they start because there’ll be loads of clubs knocking at the door.”
Indeed, Kilcormac/killoughey were widely fancied to get kickstart a new period of supremacy with a victory, something that Shinrone preyed on.
Sampson explained: “It wasn’t expected by the general public anyway but we definitely believed in our own camp, there’s no doubt about that.
“It was a nice way to go into the game. We felt that the pressure was on them because everyone was saying they were going to win it.”
Shinrone now have a six-week break before competing in Leinster for the very first time. They have a provincial quarter-final against Naas on the weekend of November 12/13.