Keeping GAA dreams alive

At times, it’s often too easy to be cynical about the GAA, but last weekend provided two fine examples – one collective, one individual – of the enduring spirit which underpins the games and fuels our summers.

It speaks volumes about the Laois hurlers’ fine win over Dublin at O’Moore Park in Portlaoise on Sunday that, in the wake of the victory, pundits were wondering whether it was a bigger shock than Kerry’s triumph over Waterford in 1993 or Antrim’s 1989 All-Ireland semi-final win against Offaly.

You have to consider the context in which the two sides were coming into the game – Dublin’s previous outing had been a win over Galway, which eliminated the Tribesmen, while they had the luxury of a three-week lead-in; in contrast, Laois had had the high of the Joe McDonagh Cup win just a week previously and had to park that elation and get straight back down to business. A famous bookmaker was so sure of the outcomes in that game and the other preliminary quarter-final between Westmeath and Cork that odds were already being given on the two “proper” quarter-finals the following week, Tipperary-Dublin and Kilkenny-Cork.

They reckoned without Laois and Eddie Brennan, though. An article by Denis Walsh in The Sunday Times on the day of the game outlined the journey taken by the county since the former Kilkenny star’s appointment – of the 55 players contacted with a view to being included on the county panel, 22 are not now involved.

The McDonagh Cup win was seen by the large majority as the extent of the Laois success this year

They have worked with what they have though. A league win over Offaly was shown not to be a fluke when they repeated the feat in the Joe McDonagh Cup and a draw with Carlow – who would be competing in the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship – was further proof that things were going in the right direction.

Even so, the McDonagh Cup win was seen by the large majority as the extent of the Laois success this year, with the expectation of a creditable defeat against the Dubs and the prospect of appearing in Leinster next year to warm them over the winter.

Instead, they will appear against Tipp at Croke Park on Sunday. They will be massive underdogs and it won’t be a surprise if it signals the end of their campaign, but the fact that they are there at all is a huge feat.

Laois went into the weekend as one of only three counties still capable of winning the senior double. The hurlers’ win means that Dublin now cannot do it, though by that stage Laois’s admittedly slim dreams had already come to grief, against the only county that could now manage it, Cork.

The Rebel footballers have had an up-and-down year, or rather a down-and-up one – the league ended with relegation to Division 3 for 2020 but Saturday evening’s win over Laois in Thurles means a place in the Super 8s, beginning with a clash against Dublin in Croke Park this Saturday.

The final score was 4-20 to 1-15 in favour of Ronan McCarthy’s side, who blitzed their opponents immediately before and after half-time to take control of what had been a close game up to that point. The two key goals early in the second half came from Brian Hurley, who finished with 2-4, giving him five goals in three championship games this summer and helping to ensure that injury memories recede further into the distance.

In 2016, the attacker suffered a terrible hamstring injury and then, having gone through a full rehabilitation, had the same thing happen to him in 2017. He was to shelve any plans to play at such a level ever again, but they make them tough and stubborn in Castlehaven and he wasn’t going to give up on his dreams.

When you’re told you wouldn’t play at this level again and they wouldn’t operate on you, it’s a fairly frightening experience, even for a fella that tries to be a bit of a hard man

Before the Munster final, he revealed how he had doubted his ability to make it back but those doubts were outweighed by a tungsten-coated resolve.

“When you’re told you wouldn’t play at this level again and they wouldn’t operate on you, it’s a fairly frightening experience, even for a fella that tries to be a bit of a hard man,” he said.

“That’s not easy, and that’s putting it fairly softly. The thing that gives you the most enjoyment in the world and the thing you want to play most and you can’t have it, it’s scary.

“It’s hard to describe if you haven’t been in that situation but fellas who have had similar injuries who I’ve talked to, they understand it 100%.

People telling you, ‘He won’t make it back’, or whatnot – that drives me on. I love that

“I came out of a brace the second time after nine weeks, 90°, my left leg was a third the size of my right. That gave me a fair fright, trying to say to myself, ‘How am I going to get back here? This is impossible’.

“People telling you, ‘He won’t make it back’, or whatnot – that drives me on. I love that. I actually live off that stuff, like. Fellas telling you that he’s done or he’s finished and all this.”

Now, he and Cork will go to Croke Park and, while Dublin are the favourites, Laois hurlers have given hope to all underdogs.

That game on Saturday evening will kick-start what should be an action-packed weekend – the only problem is trying to fit everything in. We’d wager that there will be a quite a bit of channel-hopping on Sunday between the Super 8s and the All-Ireland hurling quarter-finals. Kerry v Mayo in Killarney is exactly the kind of game the power-brokers had in mind when conceiving of the round-robin format for the All-Ireland football quarter-finals.

As previously outlined here, the only pity is the lopsided nature of the remaining fixture-list, with 15 football championship games remaining and only five hurling matches to look forward to. Nevertheless, look forward to them we shall.