‘I’d gladly die if they could win the feckin’ thing’
WHEN Bennettsbridge last got their hands on Kilkenny SHC honours 47 years ago, their final against Fenians was amazingly played as a curtain-raiser to a National Football League tie between Wexford and Kilkenny.
Times have drastically changed on Noreside but the ’Bridge find themselves back in Nowlan Park tomorrow (3.0) for a Kilkenny senior decider having made an astonishing rise back through the ranks.
Just four years ago, they were junior in the third tier but two remarkable seasons followed with victories twice within 12 months in Croke Park to claim All-Ireland junior (2015) and intermediate (2016) titles.
That earned a return to the senior ranks last season where their status was retained before legendary manager Christy Walsh stepped aside and Tipperary’s James McGrath took the reins.
While they have undoubted potential in the likes of Seán and Enda Morrissey, Nicky and Jason Cleere, Robert Lennon and Liam Blanchfield, few expected the Toomevara native to work the oracle as quickly as he has.
It’s a remarkable achievement for the village side, even more so as they lost Richie and Paddy Hogan to neighbours Danesfort having played some underage hurling with the ’Bridge.
The rumour goes that the Hogan’s house was marginally outside Bennettsbridge and the brothers wrote a letter to the bishop to extend the boundary to include their home but it wasn’t carried out.
A trawl through history shows a club with a massive tradition of punching well above their weight with 12 county titles to their name, 11 of those came between 1952 and ’71 with Johnny McGovern involved in each win having been coaxed out of retirement for their last victory before starring in attack.
Revered Kilkenny hurling figures like Noel Skehan, Seamus Cleere, Jim Treacy and Paddy Moran donned the green and gold during that time and Skehan admits he never thought he’d see the ’Bridge back in a senior final. “By Jaysus, that’s for sure,” the nine-time All-Ireland winner said. “It’s fantastic for the likes of us that played years ago. I said I’d gladly die when we went back senior but I’d gladly die now if they win the feckin’ thing.
“Bennettsbridge were so strong and then you find yourself back at junior level until this team came up along from underage and stayed together. In a small parish where lads are often lost to emigration, that doesn’t happen too often.”
Skehan appreciates the enormous task which Ballyhale Shamrocks – managed by Henry Shefflin – present but he’s delighted that the ’Bridge are back in the final.
“We are only gathering experience but we’re a hell of a good team too and it’s a 50-50 game. The club is back where it should be at the top table in Kilkenny,” Skehan said. “Ballyhale have enough titles, I told Henry that the other day but he wasn’t listening.”
Anyone going early to Nowlan Park is in for a treat with the curtain-raiser seeing Tommy Walsh’s Tullaroan against Graigue Ballycallan in the intermediate final (1.0).