Hurling final fever grips Barefield school

Fourteen years ago, in March of 1999 children attending Barefield National School were busy making flags and displaying their maroon and white colours ahead of the All-Ireland Club Hurling final in which the parish team, St Joseph’s, defeated Rathnure from Wexford.

This week there is again great excitement within the school ahead of club hurling’s biggest day when staff member Robert Murray captains Galway champions St Thomas’ in the final against Offaly and Leinster champions, Kilcormac-Killoughy.

Robert teaches second class in Barefield and has been a member of staff for the past eight years.

“There is great excitement ahead of the final and the pupils here and fellow staff members have been most supportive. Many have made arrangement to travel to Croke Park for the final which is great,” Robert told The Clare Champion.

“It’s been a fantastic year so far and it really has been unbelievable to be caught up in for the past five months. We had never won a county title until last November. Getting to the All-Ireland final is huge and something we have never experienced before this,” he added.

The team’s policy throughout the campaign has been to take it game by game, he explained.

Robert will never forget lifting the county cup last November. “It will never leave my mind. It was so special to be the first to bring the cup back home to Kilchreest. It was made extra special because my brother, Ritchie, was standing beside me having received the man of the match award.”

According to Robert, each day St Thomas’ play is a real family occasion. “We are blessed to have six Burke brothers in the team. There are three Murrays, three Cooneys… it’s a real community thing and a real family affair.”

The Barefield teacher, who commutes from his home in Oranmore, acknowledges previous Galway champions have set a high standard in this competition.
“The Galway championship is one of the strongest in the country and one of the most difficult in the country. Of course we would love to emulate previous winners from the county who have gone on to bring home the All-Ireland title,” he said.

Portumna and Clarinbridge have won the national crown in recent years, while Athenry won a few titles just over a decade ago, beating St Joseph’s Doora-Barefield in the 2000 decider.
“We have never been this far before and we don’t have the history but we realised we are good enough after our first game against Lougheil. We know that we face a really hard battle. We would love to emulate the previous winners from Galway but, at this stage, it doesn’t really matter what they have achieved. We still have to go and do the  business,” he said, looking ahead to the game.
The Galway-Offaly rivalry isn’t really a factor in Sunday’s game.

“We are down here in South Galway and we haven’t too much contact with Offaly teams. When we are arranging challenge games, it usually against Clare clubs just over the border.
“Clare people have been very supportive and everywhere I go in the past week or two, they are extending good wishes ahead of Sunday’s final. All the children in the class here are really excited about the game and I would love to bring the cup back here to show it to them next week,” he concluded.

Extending good wishes to the Galway champion’s captain ahead of Sunday’s final, Barefield school principal John Burns said, “he is an outstanding classroom teacher who has a great rapport with our pupils. He is a gifted hurler but humble about his exceptional talent and achievements on the hurling fields.”
“He imparts a great love of hurling to all our boys and girls and is very generous with his time, training our pupils both during and after school hours,” added the principal.

Murray trained the Barefield school to win the Cumann na mBunscol Division 2 Hurling Championship and the Clare mini 7’s championship last year.
“We are all backing Robert to lead his club to victory on Sunday and to bring the Tommy Moore cup home to St Thomas,” Mr Burns concluded.