Search Results for 'Kevin Connelly'

Friday May 15

Last Sunday’s hurling final was the greatest I have ever seen. I particularly enjoyed the senior match, but the minor game provided a wonderful array of all of the great skills of the ancient game too. If the minor encounter was a tasty starter, the senior game between Tipperary and Kilkenny was an awesome encounter. There was huge physicality and manliness about the match from the minute the ball was thrown in right to the very end. It was gripping stuff and at no stage during the match could I have predicted the outcome. I was half hoping that Tipperary would win it for a number of reasons. I normally shout for the underdog but I also have a brother- in- law from Tipp and he was really excited in the lead up to this match. I felt for him when I spoke to him after the game as he was planning a few days off to celebrate a massive homecoming in Thurles! However in the grander scale of things I think it was appropriate that the Cats prevailed to create their own bit of history and win their fourth All- Ireland in a row. Winning so many titles doesn’t happen by chance and anyone involved in management at any level will be intrigued as to how Brian Cody keeps his players focused, fresh and driven. There are so many distractions for young people these days that it is a task in itself to keep players interested in their chosen sport. That is why I took special interest in the comments of Cody in a post-match interview earlier this week when he gave an insight as to why this current Kilkenny side are arguably the greatest hurling team of all times. He suggested that there is no chance of this great Kilkenny team getting complacent or big-headed, despite their phenomenal run.

If you go by tradition alone then Kiltimagh will go into Sunday’s county junior final as hot favourites, but that won’t bother Ardnaree. If you follow that logic then Ardnaree have it all to gain and nothing to loose, but somehow you can’t imagine that they see that they have nothing to lose. The prize of a place in next year’s intermediate championship and the chance to winter the junior crown in their town is something that will make sure both sides leave everything on the field in McHale Park on Sunday.

Once all the drama of the last day of the group stages of the Mayo club championships had been put to bed, only the third placed teams in the groups could rest on their laurels for the rest of the season, as the qualifiers into the last eight in of the various competitions and the bottom placed teams all waited to discover their fates.