We’ll put our bodies on line for this opportunity
FUNNY how the memories come flooding back. When Colm Bonnar brought the Carlow hurlers on a scouting trip to Croke Park ahead of the Christy Ring Cup final, he didn’t realise it would tug on his heartstrings quite so much. As the players familiarised themselves with the dressing room setting and took a walk through the tunnel where they would rush out against Antrim the following week, their manager found himself thinking back to the last time he did the same: September 14, 1997. Tipperary versus Clare in the All-Ireland final.
Sixteen Clare players lined up for the pre-match photograph until the dummy team became a thing of record with Niall Gilligan lining out at corner-forward in place of Fergal Hegarty.
Bonnar was wearing six for Tipperary. Beside him was former Tipp manager Liam Sheedy while current manager Michael Ryan was behind him in the corner.
Davy Fitzgerald made a sensational late save to deny John Leahy and repeat the dramatic finale of the Munster final between the same teams when Clare hung on.
Ger Loughnane, not for the first time, hailed events as ‘the greatest game of hurling I have ever seen… an epic, epic All-Ireland final’. Only Clare’s larger than life leader could get away with using epic twice in the same sentence.
Tony Considine roared out a verse of the Banner chorus: ‘My Lovely Rose of Clare’.
Bonnar never expected he’d be back at the ground as Carlow manager. ‘We lost the All-Ireland final to Clare in ’97. I retired the following year. They actually only had one of the sides of the stadium done then. All the memories come back. I can remember the little humps and bumps on the pitch, when it wasn’t the same quality. I had same great times there and some very disappointing times,’ he said..
‘I was one of the lucky players. I managed to get up there and win.’ At least he had the glory days of 1989 and ’91 to fall back on.
He could see the buzz it gave the players to even walk out on a day when it was empty. ‘Even for the players to see the size of the pitch. It was in such condition. The lads couldn’t wait to get out there.’
The final meant so much because victory gave Carlow a place in the Liam MacCarthy Cup proper. It’s why they face off against Laois today for the right to join the likes of Tipperary and Kilkenny in the qualifier draw.
‘The Christy Ring has given them a huge opportunity. Something that is achievable, that’s tangible, that’s well worth putting your body on the line for. The players train just as hard as teams in the top tier,’ added Bonnar (below).
The final will be remembered for James Doyle’s four goals and the starburst of scores: Carlow 5-23 Antrim 4-15.
‘You grow up looking at big games in Croke Park. Players walking up the steps on behalf of the county. There is no better experience. When you’re a hurler, you want to play in our national stadium. You don’t get that chance too often. Especially a Carlow hurler, you don’t get that chance too often.
‘The Mount Leinster lads would have had a club All-Ireland up there but for so many of the lads it was enormous. To put on a display then, to show you’re worth a place in such an environment.’
If there is one thing he feels let down by, it’s the lack of promotion for those outside the top tier. The GAA’s broadcasting agreement meant that TG4 couldn’t broadcast the final live.
However, it was the circumstances surrounding the Division 2A Allianz Hurling League final against the same opposition that really left him fuming. ‘Go back to the divisional finals in football in the League. They all got to play in Croke Park – Division 2, 3, 4. We got to play Antrim in our Division 2 final and they put us up in Páirc Esler (Newry) where it had been raining for I’d say two weeks before it. The pitch isn’t a hurling pitch. The ground was unbelievable. You need the best sod for hurling.
‘To do that, just put us out of the way…
‘Then you see what they do with the football, from Division 4 all the way to Division 1. With us, it was just get it out of the way.
‘It was such a big game for Antrim and us because it was giving us a chance to play against the likes of Galway, Dublin. [It was] playing it for the sake of playing it. Not promoting it.’
Regarding the proposed hurling Championship proposals for 2018, he sees value in the round-robin element in Leinster and Munster. Carlow would feature in a third provincial qualifier group of five, the winner progressing to a preliminary All-Ireland quarter-final.
With a trophy up for grabs in the other provincial groups, he has a couple of worthwhile ideas to make the third group more attractive.
‘Definitely I would give it a cup. If might be a case of bringing the Christy Ring up to that level. The likes of Westmeath and Kerry have played in it. Carlow, Antrim have played. Laois might be the only county who might not want to. Bring it up and make it a tangible competition where two top teams go and play in a final at Croke Park. And have their own All-Star 15 like the Christy Ring competition. That’s huge for a player to know he’s the best in that division, that he’s going to get something tangible out of it. Something to work for, train for. ‘We’re not competing with the likes of Tipperary and Kilkenny at the top of the table.’ This afternoon’s qualifier against Laois is a step up, whatever way it is looked at.
‘Laois are playing a league above us and a championship above us. There are going to be big, big questions asked of us in terms of our ambition. Can we step up to that level? Our first goal is to survive. See if we can live with them. Take it from there.
‘Whoever wins that game, to see your county’s name going in to the draw with the likes of Kilkenny, Tipperary and Waterford, it would make you very proud.
‘It’s new ground for us. I’m just hoping our appetite hasn’t been satisfied by what happened in Croke Park.’
They just played our final for the sake of it, to get it out of the way