Brislane backs ‘Church for glory
By Stephen Barry
Eoin Brislane had plenty of insight to offer when his Toomevara clubmate and Upperchurch/Drombane coach James McGrath phoned him over Christmas.
Brislane managed Monaleen to the 2023 All-Ireland Intermediate Club title against Tooreen, who will provide Church’s opposition in Saturday’s final.
“They've been here before,” said Brislane ahead of the Croke Park showdown.
“All the teams they play, it's their first time being there, whereas it's not Tooreen's first time there. They have a huge advantage in preparation. They know Croke Park, they know the dressing rooms, they know the warm-up. They have a head start there on you.
“That's the fear for any team playing them. Unfortunately, because they're Mayo, your subconscious mind is telling you, ‘We can beat these.’ Family and friends over Christmas are saying, ‘You should beat them.’ That was our biggest challenge.
“From a manager's perspective, you'd be better off playing a Kilkenny team or a Cork team because you're more mentally prepared for a team like that. That's where the weakness and the danger is, that a player is not tuned in to 100%.”
Tooreen’s track record should guard against any Upperchurch/Drombane complacency. They have beaten Galway champions to win six of the last eight Connacht Intermediate titles.
They have come agonisingly close to national glory, being knocked out by two-point margins in the past three years. That includes the 2023 final against Monaleen, where the ‘Blue Devils’ led all the way until the 54th minute.
“They hit the ground running at 100 miles an hour, while we were chasing our tails all night,” Brislane recalls.
“It just took us a while to settle and they really performed well. They had us at sixes and sevens. We were hitting 71-72 tackles in every game leading up to it. The only game we were beaten in that year, we hit 55 tackles, and we hit 56 that night. We weren't up to the pitch of it. It was a bit of class at the end that got us over the line.
“What they do is they suck back the field, they make it a battle in that middle third, and they make it very difficult to get the ball into your inside forward line.
“We were playing two inside and we literally got no ball into Donnacha Ó Dálaigh in the first half. We brought him out to wing-forward, and it took us a while to break them down and to figure it out.
“We spoke at half-time and got our half-back line to carry the ball a bit further up the field. We were trying to get the delivery zone of our ball to the far 65, so we were passing the ball in rather than delivering it in because they were cutting it out.
“They're going to bring that running football game, huge energy, huge fitness, and they're well able to hurl. They're very comfortable on the ball in working it out, handpassing it through the lines.”
Nine Tooreen clubmen played for Mayo at Croke Park in last season’s Nicky Rackard Cup final, including top-scorer Shane Boland. His brother, Fergal, has won a Division 1 League title there with the county’s footballers. Another dual star, Cathal Freeman, has flown back from Australia for the final.
Upperchurch/Drombane have their share of injuries, but Brislane hopes that can galvanise their mindset.
“I have no doubt Upperchurch will win this game, but it's not going to be any pushover,” he added.
“If they match Tooreen’s work-rate, Upperchurch will have the hurling, simple as that. Now, they won't beat them in the first ten minutes. They'll beat them the last ten.”
Brislane stepped away from managing Monaleen last month, but will reunite with the panel at the Hurlers Bar in Castletroy to watch the final. They plan to make it an annual tradition on All-Ireland Intermediate final day.
“It's such an unbelievable feeling to win,” said Brislane.
“We gave our whole lives in Toomevara trying to get to a Club All-Ireland. Our team never got there, we never won one, and to win it with Monaleen was an unbelievable feeling.
“For Upperchurch/Drombane to go up there with the parish and to get over the line, it'd be just incredible.”