All reasonable expectations
told us that this dog had his
day in the Joe McDonagh
final, and said today’s article
would be about Tipperary
and another Liam MacCarthy
challenger in Dublin. There
were to be quotes from Ryan
O’Dwyer about playing for
both counties, of heart strings
being tugged, and how the
extra quality of Tipp tends to
win the day.
There was to be talk of how
Dublin’s stats man in 2018
under Pat Gilroy, Ray Boyne,
was replaced by Seaghan
Kearney under the new
management of Mattie
Kenny. The rub being that
Boyne found a new home in
the opposition camp today
as Liam Sheedy’s number
cruncher. Of how Kearney
and Boyne both once worked
together under Jim Gavin with
the Dublin footballers, and
the theorising of how insider
knowledge might turn this
quarter-final.
What an article it would be,
and it was planned to be,
right up until the clock struck
6pm last Sunday and hurling’s
landscape shifted.
Laois didn’t just beat Dublin,
they hurled the ears off them.
The Dubs were chasing the
game from the get-go and,
when twice they got their
hands on the O’Moore County
necks in either half, it was
the hosts who pushed on in
Portlaoise.
Seamus Plunkett managed
the side five years ago when
last they came close to a huge
scalp. Two points down, then
goalkeeper Eoin Reilly had a
free on the ‘21 in the dying
embers, drove for goal, but
his shot was saved and the
Tribe prevailed.
Half a decade later, Eddie
Brennan’s crew have made
their big statement, speaking
words through their sticks
that no one expected. It was
another goalkeeper, Enda
Rowland, who won the day:
scoring two frees from inside
his own ‘45 when he had no
right to, and stopping a late
‘21 from Seán Moran, who
tends not to miss. A big save,
made at the same end of the
same ground where once
Laois were denied.
DJ Carey managed a batch
of these players at IT Carlow,
and speaks very highly of his
experiences with them.
“You’d have Enda Rowland in
goal, Ryan Mullaney at centre-
back, Cha Dwyer, (Stephen)
‘Picky’ Maher, and then you
have a few lads such as Stephen
Bergin, Mark Dowling and Eoin
Gaughan that are on the panel,”
says the Young Irelands man.
LAOIS weren’t supposed to be here. This wasn’t meant to happen.
This isn’t the article you were supposed to read.
BEWARE OF THE
DOG
BY SHANE STAPLETON
(UNDER)
