It all came right just in time - Connolly
By Stephen Barry
The weekend before the All-Ireland final triumph over Cork, Tipperary played an internal training game to road-test their surprise sweeper system. It may have worked on Sunday, but a week ago, it didn’t go so well.
Key defender Eoghan Connolly was on the ‘A’ team which took a clipping “by an awful score.”
He credited team-mate Joe Fogarty with leaving him for dust, which had him wondering where his form had gone.
By Friday, though, they had straightened out the kinks and confidence was restored for Sunday’s big reveal.
Connolly said: “We had a terrible game in-house, the ‘A’ versus ‘B.’
“There was wicked heat inside in Thurles last weekend, and it was probably our first time playing with a plus one in a long time, since the Clare game I think, so it took us a while to get to grips with it.
“I got an awful licking off Joe Fogarty. He’s sick. He’s actually a carbon copy of Séamus Harnedy. I was even half worried as to what my form was at, to be honest.
“Even by Friday evening, we were training, and we couldn’t get enough of it.”
The masterplan paid off as the right match-ups gave Tipp the defensive security that limited Cork to two points across the entire second half.
Connolly had a tough time tracking Diarmuid Healy in the first half, but he helped to pin down the youngster and, later, Shane Barrett too.
On top of that work, he kept feeding high-quality supply to the attack, although he laughs at the notion that he was passing, rather than shooting, with his assist for John McGrath’s clinching goal.
“At half-time, I registered that he (Healy) had three points got and I thought, ‘Jeez, the curly finger could be coming here soon,” he continued.
“He’s a great hurler for a young lad, and massive energy from him as well.
“In the second half, I found myself around Shane Barrett for a while. Like that, you adapt to whoever you’re marking.”
Connolly was able to live up to his pre-match aim of overcoming the fatigue to finish like a train.
“We all do a battle plan the night before,” he revealed.
“You write down what you’re going after. It did click with me… I did say, ‘Register the tiredness and just try to get through it.’ Thankfully, I did.
“For that last ten minutes, we put in a great shift to help us get through it. I always maybe breathe for that last five minutes and try to take it all in and enjoy it too.”
Liam Cahill and his management team were the masterminds behind the game plan, and Connolly couldn’t be more thankful for their impact on his life.
“We owe everything we have to them men. What they've done for us is just amazing. They've made us into the men we are today.
“They got us at seventeen years of age. I see them as much as much as I see my mother and father at home. They’re amazing men.
“I can’t thank them enough for what they’ve done for me as a boy that’s living the dream.”
His father, TJ, is another inspiration. “Heading up on the bus there, I was calm, I don't get too excited, but I got a message on the phone, and the man, sure he’d nearly bring you to tears. He's a huge role model to me,” he said.
Cashel King Cormac’s run to a Munster Club Intermediate final last December spared Connolly from some of the hard conversations that took place over the off-season.
The celebrations will be enjoyed, although he’ll be reporting back to Leahy Park on Thursday for club training.
“We're hurling a West Senior final on Saturday against Clonoulty, against Robert Doyle and Danny Slattery,” he said.
“We’ll enjoy the next few days – I might watch Robert Doyle closely and see what he’s doing for the week!
“Cashel haven’t won a West Senior title in thirty years. It's a huge dream also of mine to win a West Senior title with Cashel King Cormacs.”
Could he even end up marking Doyle, who plays in the forwards for his club?
“I hope not! He's a livewire up there. We played them two years ago; I think he had two or three goals got in the first ten minutes. I'll try to stay away from him for the day!”