As someone heavily involved in Clarinbridge GAA Club in Galway from juvenile to adult level, Ray Hayes has seen first-hand the development of their county players.

In Sunday’s All-Ireland SHC final against Limerick at Croke Park, Joshua Ryan, Gavin Lee and Aaron Niland are set to start for the Tribesmen while Niland’s brother Evan is also part of the squad.

“They’re a credit to the club and to their own families,” says Ray.

“Our boys know them very well, because they’re always around the pitch doing extra work.

“Even the weekend before the semi-final, Aaron was down on the Saturday morning, practising his free-taking on his own.”

However, while his admiration for his fellow clubmen is huge, that does not necessarily mean that he wants them to lift the Liam MacCarthy Cup.

Ray is a resident of Clarinbridge but he is a native of Ballysteen in Limerick, studied electrical engineering at the University of Limerick and now works, largely remotely, for Dell.

It was while he was in UL that he got to know his next-door neighbour, physiotherapy student Anita O’Sullivan from Oranmore. Following graduation in 2006, a job with Hewlett-Packard brought him up further west and so, by the time they married in 2013, living in Galway was the logical choice.

“Where I come from, we’ve a small farm and before we got married, I kind of looked at building at home,” Ray says.

“At the time, I was working up here for HP, but back then, there wasn’t really the option to work from home.

“We decided then that, as we were both working in Galway, it’d make more sense to be located here and then we started looking for somewhere to buy.”

The Hayes squad has grown in size in the interim, with the additions of Lucas, Charlie, Seán and Tiernan.

As Anita outlines, loyalties may be evolving.

“We’ve four boys, they’re ten, eight, seven and two,” she says, “and for the last few years, they’ve been all about Limerick and they’ve been to Croke Park I don’t know how many times, but it’s changing now.

“The older boys now talk a little bit more about Galway and they want to put the Galway flag up and all of that.”

Ray might perhaps be able to take some solace from the fact that maroon and white are also the colours of Clarinbridge, for whom he continues to play at junior level.

The joke used to be that old hurlers didn’t retire, they just went playing junior B; now they are just as likely to be found playing at inter-county masters (over-40s) level.

The weekend after this, Galway take on Tipperary in the decider of that competition – and their manager is another Clarinbridge man, Liam Donoghue, brother of senior manager Micheál.

“Basically, I was playing with them two years ago – sometimes in goal and sometimes outfield, depending on numbers – and I was asked to take them over this year,” Liam says.

“Ben Mangan, the previous manager, is still involved and that made it an easy transition as he had done so much of the groundwork in setting up the team.”

Former players like the Healy brothers, Fergal and Niall, are involved, along with Kevin Hynes, Michael Broderick, Kieran Dolan and Ger Farragher – and gone are the days of ‘old’ equating to ‘out of shape’.

“It’s incredible,” Liam says.

“We have a few lads still playing senior with their clubs – which can be a challenge in its own right – but they’re all at an incredibly high level of fitness.

“I don’t think you can under-estimate the enjoyment that’s in it. We ended up registering 49 players this year and the craic we’ve had has been unbelievable.

“It’s all about engaging – the host team always lays on refreshments after and there’s a great social side to it, especially as players’ kids are there, too. It’s a really good environment.”

Clarinbridge have of course had plenty of players represent Galway on the biggest stage, but pride in seeing a player run out on All-Ireland final day is something that never grows old.

It’s still a relatively new feeling for Limerick’s Crecora Manister. In the 2023 final win over Kilkenny, Cathal O’Neill came on as a sub to become the first from the club to feature in a decider.

He has grown in stature for John Kiely’s side since.

“In the 1990s, we started to really concentrate on the under-age side,” says club chairperson Pat Quirke.

“We began to play at higher grades in the various age-groups and then started to see those lads come through.

“From when he was five or six, Cathal would be up at the club pucking around or when his father Paddy was playing, he was at those matches and hitting off a wall.

“People say he’s been an overnight success but it just shows the dedication involved.”

Just as important as Cathal’s own progress has been the laying down of a pathway for other Crecora-Manister players to follow, with Sam Collins and Cian Hickey part of the Limerick team that won the All-Ireland minor hurling title recently.

“Our catchment area is quite diverse,” he says, “we have a lot of farms on the Manister side and then the Raheen Industrial Estate as you move closer to the city.

“You’ve a mix of people who have been there a long time and others like myself – I’m from Tipperary – who have moved here for work reasons.

“The under-age success has led to more representation on county development squads and that culminated with the lads on the minor panel.

“This year, we’re competing with Croom at under-age – you have to find a way to give kids games a reasonable level and we’ve always been conscious that you’re with a partner club and not one dominating the other. Cathal has come through that way and we’re all proud of him. He’s something special and he’s always very keen to give it back too in terms of coming to the Cúl Camps and the likes.”

Journalist Paul Shaughnessy has followed the progress of O’Neill, among others. From Annaghdown in Galway, he went to the University of Galway to study journalism and arts but, on completion of his degree in 2024, he landed a job with the Limerick Leader.

Given that the Treatymen have won five of the previous six All-Ireland titles, it was not unreasonable to expect that he would cover John Kiely’s side in the final in Croke Park – but he will do so this year for the Connacht Tribune, having returned to home soil at the beginning of this year.

Momentum

Paul maintained his Galway GAA podcast, Maroon & White, while he was Shannonside, meaning he remained au fait with what was happening, though even he has been surprised at the progress made.

“I suppose from the first two league games, it was very encouraging even though they didn’t get results against Tipp and Cork. The performances were there and then just the influx of youth and the momentum. I don’t think any Galway fans expected us to be here, but I think with this team, the excitement levels haven’t been like this for a long time.

“Even in 2017 when they won it, it was sort of a team coming towards the end, while this team is still so young. It’s so early in their development in one sense.

“I suppose Galway fans, we don’t get to too many finals, so we’re going to try to win it now while we’re there!”

And if that did happen, would he be able to contain himself in the press box?

“The last day [at the semi-final], to be honest, I’d say the composure was gone a small bit,” he says, laughing.

“Usually I’d be fine, but nobody gave Galway much of a chance and when you see what they’re doing and when Connor Clooney put the sliotar in the goal towards the end, it was hard – I wouldn’t say not to lose the run of yourself – but it’s hard not to celebrate.”