Memories to last a lifetime

IN ALL FAIRNESS

Watching Upperchurch/Drombane’s dramatic All-Ireland Club Intermediate Hurling final success at Croke Park on Saturday evening, was with a mixture of delight and envy.

Delight for the Mid men who became the first Tipperary club to win the All-Ireland title in the grade since Kiladangan in 2005, and incredibly the first club from the county to win an All-Ireland title in Croke Park since Borris-Ileigh’s senior success back in 1987.

That’s how few big moments there have been in a club sense for Tipperary at national level, and the hope is that it won’t be as long by the time the next club gets to experience what Upperchurch/Drombane have done, be it senior, intermediate or junior level.

That’s where the envy comes from having been part of the Lorrha side in 2023 that got to compete outside the county but weren’t able to get beyond the first round in Munster. For many years, there was a frustration as to why Tipperary county champions in the lower grade competitions were not more successful if not even competitive. The high number of senior teams was one of the main reasons and the redesignation of the Seamus O Riain Cup to the Premier Intermediate Championship in 2022 has certainly helped in terms of the second tier competition in Munster. In the four years since, Roscrea (2022) and Cashel King Cormacs (2024) managed to get to the final before Upperchurch/Drombane finally broke the glass ceiling to become the first Tipp club since Silvermines in 2012 to win the provincial title.

What Upperchurch/Drombane have achieved is sure to be another incentive for all sixteen clubs in the premier intermediate championship for 2026 to go after, as well as attaining senior status, so more Tipperary clubs can get the honour of representing the county and possibly getting the ultimate Croke Park experience.

The creation of the All-Ireland Intermediate and Junior Club Championships is one of the great successes of the GAA since they were established in 2005. It allows every club, big to small, to have the opportunity to aim to play on the biggest stage, rather than just left to senior level.

One wonders will it lead to the possibility of another tweak to the Tipperary championship to allow our third tier champions (intermediate) compete in the Munster junior championship. As things stand, they can not as the regulations in Munster state that the title of a county champion must have the word ‘junior’ in it, which was why until 2021, the Seamus O Riain Cup winners were not allowed into the Munster intermediate championship until such time as there was a name change in the county which was premier intermediate.

Would a simple name change of ‘Intermediate Championship’ to ‘Junior Intermediate Championship’ be such a big deal? There were a lot of fears when the Seamus O Riain (effectively Senior ‘B’) was rebranded that those second tier clubs would be weakened by not being designated senior anymore. It has had no effect whatsoever! It was just a name change for a tier 2 competition. It would be the same for tier 3, and it is something Tipperary County Board may look at in time, or if a club proposes a name change.

In 2025, Tipperary’s representatives in the Munster Junior Hurling Championship were Cahir who weren’t county champions, eliminated at the quarter final stage. They didn’t even win the West title. The possibility going forward is that more second teams will win the county junior ‘A’ title, as Holycross/Ballycahill did last year, which means the county isn’t able to send its best into Munster, and when you aren’t the champion, it’s not the same for those given the job of representing the county.

Last year’s county intermediate champions Golden Kilfeacle certainly would have competed strongly in Munster but there is no guarantee of success when you see the quality of the Kilbrittain side who win the All-Ireland title on Saturday.

Reflecting on the two hurling finals last Saturday, it hard not to feel for both Easkey and Tooreen. What a promotional tool it would have been for the GAA’s Director of Hurling Willie Maher of small hurling outposts in football strong counties can achieve, and on the national stage. They still can, and it’s a credit to those clubs and hurling enthusiasts who can be fighting a lonely battle just to be taken seriously within their own parish. I was looking at the Mayo GAA website last week and there was very little hurling detail, even news on Tooreen in the build-up to the All-Ireland Final. I’d like to think a Tipperary club in football getting to Croke Park would get more focus here.

For Upperchurch/Drombane, it was an occasion that will stand the test of time, and hope is that more clubs here can get a taste of what they are experiencing.