Upperchurch/Drombane focused on once in a lifetime opportunity

GAA: AIB All-Ireland Club Intermediate Hurling Championship Final Preview

By Shane Brophy

UPPERCHURCH/DROMBANE

V

TOOREEN

Croke Park

Saturday, 11th January

Throw-in @ 5.15pm (E.T.)

Referee: Caymon Flynn (Westmeath)

Live on TG4

“I’m stone mad into hurling,” admitted Liam Dunphy as he prepares to take Upperchurch/Drombane to Croke Park for this Saturday’s All-Ireland Club Intermediate Hurling Final against Tooreen of Mayo.

It’s every managers dream to guide a team to an All-Ireland Final, let alone Croke Park, but the Roscrea native is very much focused at the job at hand and the team effort it has required, both on and off the field, to get to this stage.

“It’s a privilege to be able to go to Croke Park with a team but you wouldn’t be going without having a good management team around you, a good panel of players, and a good club behind you also. It is a joint effort,” he began.

“The way it works for me is, I look after the management end of things, James McGrath (Toomevara) looks after the coaching, and John Quinn and James Greene look after everything else, two top class selectors.”

Playing in an All-Ireland Final isn’t just another game but the management has tried to treat it as such, opting not to undertake in a dummy run to Croke Park or have a walk around the venue to get their bearings, despite Tooreen having that advantage of playing in the final in 2023.

“Our way of looking at it is Croke Park is a green field with four white lines around it,” Dunphy said.

“We never played in the Gaelic Grounds before and had no dummy run, we hadn’t played in O’Moore Park before and had no dummy run so we are just going to do a job of work on the day and see how we get on over the course of 65 minutes of hurling. That is what it is going to come down to.

“We need a good start to the game. Tooreen have a few points advantage on us in that they have played in Croke Park before, they know the set-up. They have a lot of players on the Mayo senior hurling panel, up to eleven. They were in a Nicky Rackard Cup final there over the summer also so they know what it is all about.

“There is a little bit of a surprise element for us and we just have to just come out of the traps quickly and eliminate the few points advantage they have on us.”

Coping with the distractions that the Christmas and New Year period can bring can be an issue for some clubs preparing for the club finals since they were moved to early January in recent years but for Upperchurch/Drombane it was easy enough according to their manager.

“Myself and James were there for two years (2021 & 2022) and are back on the second year of this stint,” Liam continued.

“We know these guys inside out. We have a lot of the same players from four years ago with a couple of young fellas that have come through.

“They are a very mature group; they don’t need to be told. Look, you have an All-Ireland Final at stake, maybe a once in a lifetime opportunity so we didn’t have to go on about it.”

It is said you should never go back to the same job a second time with Dunphy and McGrath involved in 2021 and 2022, the latter reaching a county semi-final, losing to eventual winners Kilruane MacDonaghs, but their year away coincided with the club being relegated from the senior grade which didn’t sit right with them.

“Going back didn’t take very long to think about it,” Dunphy admitted.

“I was at the final the year Upperchurch were relegated, we weren’t in charge that year. Going away from the match I had a sick feeling in my stomach after what I looked at. It was so hard to see it after being so far up the ladder the year before (county semi-finalists).

“I met outgoing chairperson at the time, we had a conversation and it was a no brainer. We were more than happy to go back and see can we give it a good shot.

“We gave it a good shot last year, got very close (lost to eventual champions Cashel in the semi-final, after extra time).

“There is a fierce bond between ourselves and the players, and the club also.”

That bond is seen in everything they do on the pitch and how they are prepared by coach James McGrath of whom Liam Dunphy is full of praise for.

““We have an unbelievable coach in James McGrath,” he said.

“I have worked with him for a number of years. He is so good at it, he is unbelievable. He probably goes under the radar in Tipp as he doesn’t put himself about for bigger jobs.

“We are set up very well, have a good formation and we stick to it in all games.

“But it is based on work-rate. It’s not just the six backs, it is all over the field, starting at number 15 and working its way back. That’s how we defend and is what we have to bring to Croke Park.

“We have watched Tooreen, we know a good bit about them. They will just open you up if you don’t defend properly. We are fully conscious of that.”

“They have huge experience behind them, they have been there and done it. They have played in a lot of big games. They have a lot of talent, with very good forwards.

“We have plans and see how they go. We are down a player or two ourselves but aside from that we have a good panel with guys ready to take the place of the guys that are missing.”

The Upperchurch/Drombane manager confirmed that forward talisman Paudie Greene will miss the final after suffering a dislocated kneecap and some ligament damage in the semi-final against Danesfort and has undergone an operation.

Another key forward, Paddy Phelan missed that game with a broken leg and his availability remains uncertain.

While there is plenty of excitement around the Mid Tipp parish, the focus of the players and management is very much on getting one more win.

“There is a small bit of excitement outside the group but inside the group they are very mature, very good to focus on what they need to do. They know there is a job in hand, I can sense it from them,” Dunphy said.

“There is no underestimation of Tooreen here, we know what they will bring, they have good players and the damage they can do on the way. We know what they have achieved in the past, much more than we have.”