Hurling is simply a part of life for Tooreen players
NO matter where you go in the small village of Tooreen, hurling is a constant.
It has been an incredible journey for this team. They recently captured a third Connacht title in a row after beating Killimor and now face Liatroim Fontenoys on Saturday (December 17) for place in that coveted All-Ireland final in early January.
“We’re all excited,” said John Cassidy. “Training is going well. Winter hurling is where you want to be. There’s a great buzz around the place. Everyone in the village is going on about it. Saturday can’t come quick enough.”
For John, when you grow up in Tooreen – he lives only a couple of minutes away from Adrian Freeman Park – hurling quickly becomes a big part of your life.
“My first memory myself was when I was three or four, me and Sean Kenny dragging hurls around the place and with Jackie Coyne, in the nursery of hurling in Tooreen. Everybody has gone through Jackie. All your friends play hurling in Tooreen. If you’re not, you’re kinda stuck around here!”
Friendships for life were formed here and all the way through to the present day, many of these Tooreen players have experienced provincial success along the way.
“We’ve played underage all the way through. Daniel (Huane) came from Ballindine when Claremorris stopped playing. We won Connacht titles at Under 16 under Nick Freyne, which is probably my best memory of hurling growing up.
“The likes of Austin Kenny was over us for years and we have massive respect for him. He’s seen a lot of us through that.
“Hurling is nearly like a religion around here. It’s just what we do.”
Huane joined Tooreen at Under 13 level as Claremorris didn’t have a team at that age group and has been part of the success. But like the rest, only one game comes to mind after last year’s All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Nass before thinking ahead any further for the season ahead: their neighbours, friends and rivals, Ballyhaunis.
“The goal was to get back to where we were but the first time back in training, the only game we thought about was Ballyhaunis,” said Huane. “It could be one of hardest games you'll play all year. Everyone knows everyone so well.”
“The last year or two we’ve been successful,” offered Cassidy. “We know each other so well, we could probably pick each other’s teams at this stage! There’s massive respect between us but there’s no love lost on the day.
“We’re friends with each other and a lot of us went to school together, although communication in the few weeks leading up to the final mightn’t be as good as it always is!”
EXPERIENCE
For the second year in a row, Tooreen edged their rivals and then went on to claim their third Connacht title on the spin.
Killimor had them on the ropes at times in the provincial decider but the experience and belief from previous Connacht victories came to the fore against their Galway opponents, following up on previous wins in 2021 against Moycullen, 2019 against Kinvara and their 'magical' maiden win in 2017 over Ballinderreen.
“The first one was a magical experience,” said Cassidy. “Nobody thought we’d get that far, nevermind win it. I think the respect has grown for Mayo hurling in getting to finals and winning them. Against Killimor, the game was there be won. If we weren’t in our third final in a row, we might not have pushed on to win it.
“We’re still a young team with lads coming through but we have loads of experience also, guys who have played in Connacht finals, played in Croke Park, played for Mayo, so nothing fazes us coming into the heat of battle.”
“There’s a confidence within ourselves that we may not have had a few years ago,” ventured Huane. “We know the team finishing the game is just as strong as the team that start. We have lads that can step up when the pressure on.”
Their previous All-Ireland semi-final appearances have ended in defeat. They came close against Naas last year (who went on to win the title) and with the Kildare champions pushing Kilkenny giants Ballyhale Shamrocks in the Leinster senior semi-final for long periods this year, Tooreen know they are not far away from competing at the highest level.
“The first one (semi-final) was a completely new experience against Ballyraggett (in 2018) and it opened our eyes in terms of the level we needed to get to,” admitted Huane. “That year was probably a step too far but we’ve put a lot of work in the gym and on the training ground since.
“Fr. O’Neill in 2020 we made a good step forward and could’ve got them on the day. It’s all about experience.”
Cassidy is hoping those experiences will help them get over the line against Liatroim Fontenoys.
“Look at Naas against Ballyhale, probably one of the best club teams ever. We ran them (Naas) close last year. Was it there to be won? Possibly. Our first one against Ballyraggett was a new experience to everyone. Fr. O’Neills, we got closer and against Naas, we thought we could have got over the line but didn’t. But we hope fourth time is the charm.
“Liatroim had a good win over Middletown. We watched it and we’ll do our bit of homework. They’re an athletic team, well set up and have good hurlers. But we won’t fear them. We’ll focus and back ourselves.”
Many of these Tooreen players have played for Mayo in Croke Park in recent years. Cassidy started the Nicky Rackard Cup final for the Green and Red last year while Huane was an ever-present for Mayo’s Christy Ring Cup run to the final. But to play for the club in Croker would be dream stuff for Huane.
“When training gets tough or you’re trying to get yourself up early for the gym, the end goal is what you think about. It consumes so much of your thought as we care so much about the club. It’s such a good club.”
STANDARD
Sean Kenny, who turned in a man of the match performance in that Connacht final victory over Killimor a couple of week ago, is happy to be still be hurling this late in the season, even in the plunging temperatures.
He said: “It's great that we're still hurling this time of year of year. Not many get to do it. It's getting colder alright but the standard of our hurling is still very high. Training is always intense. We always have great numbers, in the 30s, which is proving to be a great thing this year – 15 against 15 all summer and lads fighting for positions.”
While Tooreen don't get to play a huge amount of games in the Mayo championship, they make up for it with a busy schedule of challenges.
“Ray (Larkin), our manager, is a Kilnadeema Leitrim man, in the heart of Galway hurling. He has great connections. I know we don't get to play many championship games in Mayo but week in, week out we get high intensity games against serious Galway opposition. We do have to travel for them but we don't mind that; we're well used to it at this stage.
“Those games are championship level. Over the years we've built up a reputation, although there are still clubs out there that don't give us the respect we deserve – especially going into big games. We're probably looked down on, but hopefully that's changing.”
Now, the focus is on Saturday's All-Ireland semi-final against Liatroim Fontenoys. “We're really looking forward to it. It's our fourth All-Ireland semi-final in five or six years. We've been on the wrong end of the result three times. I literally cannot remember anything from the Ballyragget game bar the journey home! I think that's how much the pressure got to us that year – it was such a big occasion. We had won our first Connacht title and didn't know what to do with ourselves. We hadn't even thought about an All-Ireland semi-final.
“Our panel that year was very young too. Since then I don't think we've lost any from the panel that year, and we've grown in depth with young lads coming up, such as Liam Lavin and Oisin Greally. We've Joe Boyle as well, a brilliant addition to the team. He brings a lot of experience to the team.”
Shane has a special word for the management team too, led by Larkin. “They have us well prepared so we have very little to do during the week. They have all the homework done on the other team. All we have to do is turn up and hurl for them on the day!”
If they hurl to their potential on Saturday, Tooreen should be using the Christmas and new year period to prepare for an All-Ireland final.