‘Fitzgibbon hurling is a different thing altogether’

Former Limerick and Kerry goalkeeper Tadhg Flynn is aiming for a Fitzgibbon Cup future for IT Tralee

TADHG Flynn knows the value of Fitzgibbon Cup. He’s lived it, he’s breathed it and, now, as manager of the IT Tralee hurlers, he wants to bring it home to the Kingdom.

“Fitzgibbon hurling is a different thing altogether,” the former Kerry and Limerick shot-stopper explains.

“It gave me my first real view of what proper inter-county hurling is like, so it was a different mind-set, a different attitude completely. It would be a big thing for Tralee IT [to show] the stronger counties and the better players that Tralee IT is a viable place to come to college and that they could not only further themselves academically, but also sportingwise and with the new campus they have there’s plenty of potential there.”

There’s a real chance of it happening too. Flynn’s IT Tralee side are amongst the favourites for this year’s Ryan Cup – the second tier of Higher Education Championship Hurling.

A Higher Education League Division 2 title before Christmas – they saw off the University of Ulster 2-9 to 2-7 in the final – marks them out as potential winners of the competition, which serves as a gateway to the Fitzgibbon Cup.

“The fortunate thing for us is that we had a bigger squad,” the Causeway man says of his side’s successful league campaign.

“We showed that when we went out and won the league with five of what was supposed to be our first fifteen. Fellas stepped up to the mark. They had the opportunity and they just took it. No-one complained and did what they had to do.

“Take GMIT. We played GMIT in the semi-final. GMIT had two Galway hurlers who were over in Sydney at that Sydney Cup thing, so they will be stronger. Teams will be stronger [in the Ryan Cup] than they were in the league.

“Athlone IT will be stronger, we saw that last year. We played them last year in the league and we blew them off the field and when it came to championship it was nip and tuck.

“Colleges could have players out on work experience and they’d be like ourselves you don’t know who they’re going to get in. It’ll be very competitive. Athlone will be a big game.

“If you can beat Athlone at home it’d put you in a good position because what you want to be doing is topping the group. You don’t want to be going to Queens. We’ve Athlone at home so you’d be hoping home advantage will swing it for you.”

It’s not just Tralee IT’s league success that marks them out as potential winners, it’s how they’ve been building towards something for a couple of seasons. Last year they made it all the way to the semi-final stage.

“We were beaten by the eventual champions Maynooth by two points and we had a player sent off in the wrong and he was a key player for us. The referee admitted his mistake afterwards, which was no good to us,” Flynn explains.

“The idea is if we can get to the weekend then it’s about having a squad good enough, there’s two games in the space of twenty four hours, you just don’t know what kind of injuries you might pick up.

“If you were looking at it it’d be ourselves, GMIT and Ulster, they’d be the three people are probably looking at, but I wouldn’t rule out any of the other ones. It’s a level playing field.”

Flynn’s appointment as manager came at the start of the season and it’s clear that he’s relishing the role.

“I am enjoying it,” he says. “The attitude by them is excellent. It makes the job very easy to be honest with you. This is my second year. I was a selector last year under Eddie Murphy and Mick Mangan and the two boys had to step away then for work commitments so Éamonn [Fitzgerald] asked me would I step in as manager so I went in as manager and I brought in Mark Ryall, Tralee Parnells and Brian Shanahan of Tralee Parnells and Gearóid Doherty, who’s a former student, originally from Clare.

“He’s working in Tralee IT at the moment and that’s the management team.

“I went to UL and I played Fitzgibbon for five years so I’d be kind of well used to college hurling and how it runs, but I never went to Tralee IT. It was Eddie Murphy who brought me in last year to work with the goalies and I was inside then and I’d know Éamonn.

“Éamonn is my own club man and he asked me would I stay on and it’s something I’d be interested in anyway.”

The idea is if we can get to the weekend then it’s about having a squad that’s good enough – Tadhg Flynn