A MAGICAL DAY FOR PAT’S!
LAST Sunday was a wonderful day in the season of the St Pat’s Senior hurlers after their fantastic victory over Ballyboden St Endas in the Leinster club hurling league final in Tullamore.
Following that victory we caught up with manager Micheal Neary to get his thoughts on the game and what he felt swung it in the favour of the Wicklow men.
“It was a brilliant occasion. To play in O’Connor Park, Tullamore as a curtain raiser for the Galway-Dublin Senior inter-county match in front of a few thousand people was great for the lads and it’s fantastic to get that exposure. To win against a club like Ballyboden adds to that sense of accomplishment. It’s great for a team from Wicklow to go up and beat a big Dublin team like that and get their hands on some silverware.”
It was far from plain sailing for the Wicklow town men however, and after five minutes things looked ominous as Ballyboden struck two quick fire goals.
“We weren’t quite to the pitch of the game from the first whistle. If you don’t come out 100 per cent tuned in from the start against Dublin teams they tend to exploit you and they certainly did the way they started. After conceding those two goals we knew we had to change things around a bit but all credit to the lads after that for fighting back because it would have been easy to drop the heads and lie down”.
Neary made a few positional switches which payed huge dividends for Pat’s. Gerry Connors was switched to full-back and solidified things back there as Pat’s didn’t concede any more goals. Andy O’Brien transitioned to the full-forward line where he was a threat throughout and ended the day with two fine goals while George O’Connor benefited nicely from his move to full-forward, with a host of points for Pat’s and Andrew Conway made the move to wing back.
“After the start we had it was a sink or swim scenario really so we rolled the dice a bit and thankfully it paid off. George and Andy did brilliantly when we switched them up and got some crucial scores for us. Andy’s goal fiveminutes before the end of the first half was a crucial turning point as it brought us right back within touching distance of them coming into the break. When we were only a point down at half time we had a real belief we could go on and win the game.”
Another key figure which Neary sights and another key turning point in the game involved goalkeeper and captain Eoghan O’Mahoney.
“Eoghan was brilliant and I thought his save in the first half was crucial. It came at a point when if they had goaled again it would have been a long way back for us so he really kept us in the game. We still had to respond though and to be fair we did. George O’Brien scored four or five brilliant points and George O’Connor got a couple of peaches himself.”
“I thought across the board we really stood up and showed great tenacity and stamina against a really well drilled side. Shane Doyle at wing back and Dale and Richie Quinn (who was switched from wing forward to midfield) were the epitome of that and ran their socks off for us. It was a really hot, sweltering day so it was a big task but I couldn’t have asked for any more out of the lads.”
After clawing their way back to the minimum by the interval Pats kicked on in the second half and ran out six-point winners on a score line of 3-13 to 2-10. Following Andy O Brien’s two first half net finders it was veteran John Dee O’Brien who capped things off with the crucial clincher third goal.
“John was brilliant when he came on and his experience really helped us through to the final whistle. He’s a really smart hurler and the 1-1 he scored for us, in particular the goal, was crucial in giving us that little bit of breathing space in the second half.”
The final whistle was greeted with jubilant scenes as Pats rounded off a very successful spring with Eoghan O’Mahoney lifting the Leinster Trophy a loft in Tullamore to triumphant cheers from his team mates and the Pats supporters.
Neary concludes that it has been a very fruitful league campaign which leaves them nicely poised to have a good crack at the championship.
“I think it has been a great campaign, obviously to win it is fantastic but in all I think we’ve used 36 or 37 players between the two sides so it has really given guys a chance to stand up and stake their claim. We were disappointed to lose the Division 3 quarter-final but to come through and win six games, culminating in lifting the trophy today, makes up somewhat for that I think!”
“Obviously the championship will be hotly contested as there are four or five quality teams and a lot of teams have new management in place this year, so it’s hard to predict how teams will line out, but we’ll focus on ourselves and we’re reasonably happy where we stand at this moment in time.”
Neary has every right to feel pleased with his team. It’s not often a Wicklow side wins a Leinster trophy and it’s certainly not often they do it by beating a Dublin opponent in the final. Pat’s will enjoy this victory no doubt but they seem well poised to pounce from the long grass on any unsuspecting victim in the championship. A fascinating summer of hurling awaits.