This article is from page 93 of the 2011-12-06 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 93 JPG
THIS coming Saturday morning the seeds of hurling revolutions past, present and probably future will be on display at Na Piarsaigh’s patch that could safely be said to have stood in the shadow of nearby Thomond Park until Sunday last.
There, they’ll be having a special visitor as club stalwart and Kilkee man Mike O’Neill reminds us in the first flush of this Munster final victory. “It’s our last morning of the year with the kids in the underage academy,” he revealed, “and we’ll be having Santa Claus come to see the kids who play in the street leagues.
“That’s why this has happened. The work that has gone in. The work that’s going in. As captain Kieran Bermingham said this was for everyone with Na Piarsaigh through the years and the work that’s been put in.”
So much so that Christmas came very early with this 1-13 to 0-9 win, a victory that completed a remarkable transformation for a team and a club that was down in the dumps only two years ago when they were pummelled by Ger ‘Sparrow’ O’Loughlin’s Adare in the county final.
“We were beaten by Adare by 17 points,” recalls O’Neill, who was secretary of Bord na nÓg Iomáint in Clare in 1981 when Munster minor honours came to the county for the first time.
“It was a real downer and it was a joke around the city, ‘we’ll have Na Piarsaigh round of drinks now, three pints’. But, they stuck at it and they’ve come back. Sean Stack stuck with them and we’ve had this day. I felt very confident going into the first game, but it was kind of a damp squib for it to finish up in a draw.
“It’s terrible with your son (Shane O’Neill) playing. You can’t relax because you’re wishing every ball will go his way. I don’t know how he missed that goal, but these things happen. It doesn’t matter now.
“I thought we were in a spot of bother at one stage. We missed 1-2 and then a few balls came off the upright. I thought it was just going to be one of those days, but the lads kept working away and we got the points and then the goal. It’s a huge thing for this club. Huge. It’s hard to describe and put into words.
“This club is only around for 40 odd years, which is nothing. Now we’re in an All-Ireland semi-final and it’s all down to the hard work that’s being done, week in, week out. It’s unbelievable.”
Time to party and celebrate Christmas. It’s started already, after all.