Swept up by a wave of All-Ireland hope

South Galway is awash with maroon and white as the county team prepares to take on Kilkenny in this year’s All-Ireland Senior Hurling final.

Five of the players in Sunday’s team hail from St Thomas’ Hurling Club covering the parishes of Kilchreest, Castledaly and Peterswell with a further two from Ardrahan and one from Kilbeacanty.

Three Gort men are also expected to be named on the extended panel for the big match, which is a repeat of this year’s Leinster final and hurling fans in the area are hoping the outcome will be the same.

“The whole of South Galway is on a high at the moment and that is because there are so many involved from the area. Niall Donoghue is from Kilbeacanty, his late mother was from Kilanena, Iarla Tannion is from Ardrahan and his father was originally from Kilbeacanty.

“Jonathon Glynn, from Ardrahan, is on the panel and Aidan Harte, Richie Cummins and Jason Grealish from Gort. David Burke from St Thomas’s, his aunt is Anne McCarthy from McCarthy’s pub in Kilbeacanty and he is a first cousin of Joseph Meaney who hurls with Crusheen so there are a lot of connections between South Glaway and North-East Clare on this team.

“As well as that, there is Conor Cooney, James Regan and Dara Burke from St Thomas’ and the manager, Anthony Cunningham, is from there too so really everyone knows someone on the team or someone related to or friends with someone on the team,” said Kilbeacanty man and local councillor Gerry Finnerty.

The atmosphere in the area is electric said Mr Finnerty who is also a publican in Tubber.

“There is great colour, great clamour and great touting around for tickets. I don’t think I am going because of the pub. We will be showing it like all the pubs in the county. Literally, this has brought great colour and a great lift to the area. It is great for businesses across the county and everywhere seems to be organising something. Lots of areas are organising buses to the match and everyone who is left behind is holding something so that people can come together and watch it. Win, lose or draw, the home-coming in Galway on Monday will be sensational as well,” he said.

Mr Finnerty believes Galway are in with a “good sporting chance” on Sunday.

“We have beaten them before. We should have won the U-21, we have learned from that and I am very confident that we will get the right result on Sunday,” he added.

In Kilbeacanty, the home club of Galway wing-back Niall Donoghue, there is an air of quiet confidence.

“We are optimistic I suppose. We are quietly confident but not over-excited. We believe we can do it but we are worried about beating the Cats twice-in-a row. Hopefully, though, we can do it. The secretary of the county board, Pat Kearney, is also involved in our club so he is very busy organising things at county level this week too,” said Justin Fahy, secretary of Kilbeacanty Hurling Club.

Club members will be travelling in large numbers on Sunday.

“The atmosphere is great in the lead-up and it is the first time since the 80s that we have had someone involved in the senior team with Niall Donoghue. Steve Mahon was involved in the ’80s. The excitement is building up now all week with people looking for tickets. We have over 180 to 200 tickets gone out in the club alone. The flags are up all around the parish and there is great excitement,” he went on.
Niall Donoghue’s selection for the team shows the progress made by the Kilbeacanty club, according to Mr Fahy.

“We joined with Beagh a few years back at underage and there is great work going on in the club at the moment with that.  Niall was only involved in that for a year but it is working well and it is all part of the development of the club. We have built a new clubhouse and have put in a lot of work in developing new players and it is all coming to fruition now that we have someone on the senior team,” he added.

A win for Galway in the final will be a boost for all sport in the area, according to Gort RFC treasurer, Barry Cunniffe.

“We really wish Galway the best of luck in the hurling on Sunday. It would be great to see them win it and we will be watching the match and cheering them on,” he said.