A family affair for the Stakelum’s
By Shane Brophy
Before speaking with Conor Stakelum, the Thurles Sarsfields captain had the moment captured with his three brothers Darragh, Cian & Aidan along with their sister Caoimhe who will aim to make it a senior double in the camogie final next Saturday, in a team managed by their father Conor senior.
“That was special,” admitted the Sarsfields skipper.
“It's been a long, long road for us. It was special getting to go out and hurl with your brothers. Mam and Dad, they're definitely very proud. It's nice to transition from out in the back garden bating the heads off each other to doing it out here. It's very sweet.”
The 29-year-old was winning a second county championship medal, nine years after his first when he was a rookie on the team that was completing the four-in-a-row.
“We were beaten in the two replays and I can tell you, they were really dark days,” he admitted of the intervening years.
“Some of the senior group bottled it and we obviously didn't let that show to the younger lads because they've no baggage or anything so we had to deal with that ourselves.
“A lot of emotion is after coming out there the last couple of minutes. It's just nice to be able to undo the wrongs. They were good battles in them county finals that we were beaten in. The better team probably won, but still that just sticks with you. We used it as fuel today.”
In his speech on the steps of the O Riain stand, Conor invoked the famous words of his uncle Richie from the 1987 Munster Final by claiming the “famine is over” and while it was a 37th title for Thurles Sarsfields, for a club with such a strong tradition, nine years feels like an eternity, and he also paid tribute to manager Padraic Maher who added another chapter to his legendary status.
“We've grown up with some amazing teams and the success has been in the club,” he continued.
“It's very hard to get to a county final and we know you're not entitled to anything, but it felt long overdue, particularly with the group of players that we have. We've been knocking on the door for the last couple of years. That bit of emotion came out of me there. It was just brilliant.
He added: “If you look back at the last couple of years, Pádraic had to pull the plug on his career, since that, it’s snowballed. Billy McCarthy had a career-ending injury. Mickey Cahill as well had to come back from numerous injuries. Ronan had been injured as well before. Jack Derby, Harry Fitzgibbon with his neck. We just haven't been dealing with it properly.
“This year, it was just next man up. I think we dealt with it there and then when it happened down in De La Salle. Ronan then led by example in how he looked after himself off the field. We all wanted to get him back and give him the opportunity to be out there on the pitch.
“Pádraic had no managerial experience coming in, so everybody was trying to adapt. We had to transition away from them really good teams as well. The patience that they had with us was brilliant.”