Dream comes through for Tipp’s prodigal son O’Riordan

When Sydney Swans season in the AFL ended on September 20th last, the last thing Colin O’Riordan would have anticipated is he would be a Munster championship winner with Tipperary two months later.

By Shane Brophy

When Sydney Swans season in the AFL ended on September 20th last, the last thing Colin O’Riordan would have anticipated is he would be a Munster championship winner with Tipperary two months later.

With the way the world has revolved oddly this year due to Covid-19, getting home to Killea was hard enough but when he got here, he fitted seamlessly back into the Tipperary football family, even if initially it was about keeping his fitness levels up before he returns Down Under in the New Year.

However, the impact of fellow Irish AFL player Mark Keane and his last gasp goal against Kerry, provided the opening for O’Riordan to be allowed don the county crest once more and he will be forever grateful, not only to Tipperary, but also Sydney Swans for the opportunity.

“That’s the dream of every kid starting off playing football underage to be there on the big occasion,” he began.

“Obviously this year and my circumstances were a bit different than the usual ones but at the same time I wrote to them (Sydney Swans) and they granted me permission and I can’t have anything but good things to say about Sydney. They gave me the opportunity to play here today and a chance to make my dream come through and for that I will be forever grateful to them.”

He added: “I didn’t mention Mark (Keane) and the goal he scored; I didn’t go down that path at all. I put an emotional plea to them and explained to them what it means for me to play for Tipperary. They came back to me with great news.”

It’s one thing getting permission to play, it’s different altogether being accepted back into the fold after five years away. There’s no doubting O’Riordan’s passion for Tipperary but players at the end of the day are still selfish and many within the squad would have seen O’Riordan’s return as a boost for Tipp overall, but a massive threat to being able to play or being part of the match-day panel, with fifteen players having to watch Sunday’s game from home due to Covid-19 restrictions.

“I approached Conor Sweeney as captain and he is the epitome of what a captain should be and I said I want to play, and this is going back a bit, and he said, Colin, we’d love to have you on board, and when you get confidence like that from some of the lads it gives you the real lift” he said.

“I want to play for Tipp and give it all I can for Tipperary. Ever since year dot that is all I wanted to do. If I am being honest and selfish it would have been heart-breaking looking at the lads but at the same time, I know the calibre of lads we have out there. We have 41 lads that are training with us and that speaks volumes of where Tipp football has gone to.

“When David (Power) came to me and asked what are the chances, I said I’d ask and give it a go and they came back to me and said they would have no objections of playing in a Munster Final and to me that is something I will be forever grateful.”

In terms of the game itself, O’Riordan took time to settle into the flow of the match, and there was one moment when it was felt he forgot he wasn’t playing Aussie Rules when he rushed an aimless clearance down field.

“The case of the rushed Aussie Rules kick was a case of the left foot not being used,” he laughed, adding “so that should be put back in the kit back.

However, come the second half when the pressure was on, he won four vital kickouts when his team really needed them.

“I felt fairly comfortable,” he said of playing his first Gaelic football match in five years.

“Sometimes you come into a dressing room and you feel the collectiveness there is in there and to be honest I was thinking to myself coming down in the car, you are playing a Munster Final in November so first of all it is a different year but then you come into the dressing room and you feel the buzz. Sometimes it might feel weird to people who haven’t experienced it but sometimes you walk in and feel today is going to be a good day and I walked in there full of confidence and the boys walked in there full of confidence and at the end of the day that is what got us over the line.

“We have steppingstones in Tipperary football up along from under 14 level up to the 2011 minor team and the 2015 under 21’s and now this is another steppingstone, and we are going in the right direction,” he said with O’Riordan along with Evan Comerford, Bill Maher, Kevin Fahey and Steven O’Brien who have now completed the set of minor, under 21 and senior Munster football medals.

Of course, playing a Munster Final on the weekend that was in it, with the centenary of the Bloody Sunday atrocity and the wearing of the white and green hooped jersey, it almost seemed like fate that Tipperary would end their 85 year wait for Munster glory and it was something the players embraced rather than were pressured by.

“We couldn’t ignore it,” O’Riordan said.

“You can’t rock up in a different jersey on Munster Final day and say it’s just another game, but it’s not and that is the reality. We approached it as, we are getting a new jersey boys and we dealt with that earlier in the week and that can rattle people but the way we went about it was very good. We wore it a few times in training matches and got used to it. It sounds like a simple incidental thing but at the end of the day that can rattle teams.

“We spoke about it what it means to play for Tipperary and the passion to have to bring. I guess the weekend that was in it, it was fitting we won the Munster Final.”

Four years ago, when Tipperary last qualified for an All-Ireland semi-final, O’Riordan could only watch on helplessly from Australia when they took on Mayo and now he will get the chance to play the Connacht champions at Croke Park on Sunday week.

“That was one of the most emotional roller-coasters I had,” he recalls.

“That was a hard one to stomach as it was my first year gone and for Tipp to have such a good year but it gives us another opportunity and it is great to be back in an All-Ireland semi-final. If you told us at the start of the year that we would be in one you’d take whatever was on offer and to be in it as Munster champions is even more special.”

Colin isn’t due back for pre-season training until January with Sydney Swans and barring a change of heart from his employers, he should be able to lineout against Mayo on Sunday week.

“If they tell me, they don’t want me to play well then that will be it. As sad as that is, I am contracted to Sydney, but I’ll liaise with them and fingers crossed,” he said.