Sweet 16 for the great ‘Bridge builders?

The names roll off the tongue like they’re present generation and training away this week at O’Garney Park for the county final that awaits. Here’s a commentator who doesn’t need the match programme before his eyes like he’s in the commentary box and the sliotar is about to be thrown in. These names are committed to memory and flow.
The father figure of ‘Bridge hurling and that team in Mike O’Shea in goal; Jamesy Keogh, Peter Golden and Christy Murray in the full-back line; Sean Stack the captain at centre-back with Flan Collins and Paddy Deegan on the flanks.
He goes on: Flan McInerney and Stephen Murray in the middle; goalscorer and club chairman of the day PJ Fitzpatrick at centre-forward, with Leo Quinlan and Pat Morey on the wings; match-winner Mikey Whyte top of the right, with the legendary Noel Casey on the edge of the square and Pat Chaplin at 15.
Syl O’Connor knows their names, just because anyone of Sixmilebridge stock and of a certain age would never allow them forget – the trailblazers, the famous first senior championship winners and in the words of the late Jimmy Corry “ended 25 years of frustration” since the county final defeat of 1962.
The team that showed the way for the 14 other county championship-winning teams that have emerged from O’Garney Park in the past 47 years – no wonder he remembers the names.
And, he remembers because he was part of it – move beyond the 15 he name-checks and PJ Keane and Flan Quilligan who also saw action that day and go to the rest of the subs and Syl is there.
And he’s the pre-match photo – in the front row with the late Tommy Morey, after whom the stand in O’Garney Park is named and Mikey Whyte, a beaming Mikey Whyte, as if he knows that history would be his with that winning point in the final minute.
“I remember being on the panel in ’77 and was only saying to somebody the other day that there are people out there who remember all the previous 15 victories,” says Syl.
“What that says about us? I remember it because it was the first. Mother of God you’d be asleep in Tulla by the time it was over, but that doesn’t make any difference now. The score was 1-6 to 1-5. That could be score after ten minutes on Sunday.
“It was a battle and the memories are still there, because it was a breakthrough. The breakthrough was the big thing because when we got to the second final two years later we won it with a big score and a couple of years after that became Munster champions.
“It showed that the weight had lifted off the shoulders and the belief that you could actually win a county final. That might sound strange saying the nowadays but we were in existence 73 years before we won a county title. We had to win it.”
Thing is, Syl isn’t stuck on ’77 though – instead he’s very much rooted to the here and now and has been throughout a lifelong involvement that has seen him totally immersed in matters GAA and matters Sixmilebridge that has seen him involved on many different levels.
Player, selector and manager on teams; a member of the club committee in many different guises and roles that ensure that it’s been an ever-present  involvement going back over 50 years.
When once he was the young hurler looking up to heroes like Sean Stack, Noel Casey and more as they crashed through the glass ceiling, now he’s a household name as Clare FM match commentator on games, but also as Sixmilebridge club chairman, having previously served as club and Clare County Board PRO.
“County final week is great,” he says, “and I always say that it doesn’t matter how many you have been in. The one that’s coming up is the one – that’s the most important.
“It’s a huge occasion and everyone stands on its own. You don’t grow tired of it. For young boys and girls coming up, for them, this is their first final. You can buy into that atmosphere that they are enjoying at the moment. Even the people that have seen all the successes back along, everyone stands on its own and everyone gives a new memory.
“For example, last Saturday we spent three or four hours decorating the streets, while this week there is a lot of activity in the school and next Sunday the camogie club are going to do face painting for every young child going to the match just before they go to it.”
And as Syl makes the same journey it will be different than anything that has gone before over the last 17 years – that’s because he won’t be getting behind the microphone above in the crow’s next that provides a panoramic view of Cusack Park.
Instead, he’ll be down on ground level with the team and as close as the pitch as he’s allowed as the ‘Bridge start chasing down county title number 16, while his sidekick in the commentary box Tommy Guilfoyle yearns for some seventh heaven for Feakle.
“It is a fantastic occasion – it is the biggest game of club hurling in the county and of course you’d love to be there working at it, but it’s very understandable that we’re not,” says Syl.
“It’s only right that we’re taking a step back not there and can sit back and enjoy it, if that’s possible. We won’t know that until the end of the game. Sitting aside, there’s nothing wrong with it.
“My first county final commentating was in 2007 between Tulla and Crusheen and between the hurling and the football in the latter years it’s a great occasion to be working. It’s great to have a front-row seat for those types of games.
“But I’ll be just as happy to be where I am on Sunday. I’ll be between where the management will be and where the subs will be – down there beside Adrian Hogan our club secretary.
“I think I’m a good spectator. I wouldn’t get carried away but would be engrossed in the game. The worst thing that could happen to me at a match is for someone to come in alongside me and start talking.
“I would prefer to watch it and see what pattern there is to the game – I would be doing that from the commentary point of view but also as a spectator as well,” he adds.
All that’s left is to see what will unfold. Number 16 by the banks of the O’Garney and a sixth in 11 years or number seven out by the banks of Lough Graney as Feakle bid to bridge a 36-year gap.
“The successes since 2013 don’t count for anything against a good Feakle side,” argues Syl. “I know the pedigree and tradition that Feakle have.  I was a selector with ‘Bridge Under 21 teams in ‘80s and we won three championships, but they won four.
“The biggest thing that came out of that era was that Feakle only won one championship. That was the biggest surprise for me out of that era. It was amazing that they only won one.
“I have no doubt it will be a fantastic occasion for them as they’re back in a county final after so long and they’ll expect to win and will be disappointed if they don’t. But we will be disappointed if we don’t win this as well.
“We have seen a big change in this team since they qualified for the quarter-final. We had our ups and downs in the early stages of the championship but when they got the quarter-final against Clonlara and the semi-final against Inagh-Kilnamona, they have upped it.
“After we beat Clonlara and Inagh-Kilnamona you had a number of people saying ‘you’re going to win the championship now’. How many times in sport have we seen that happen?
“We have seen it over and over – the hardest game you’ll ever win is the game people are telling you that you can’t lose. We hope we come out on the right side of it but every game stands on its own.”
We’ll know on Sunday, barring a draw.
And in one way, Syl O’Connor is the only person who can’t lose.