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 Eamonn Murphy - O'Connor Twins Interview The Evening Echo | |||
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Eamonn Murphy reports on the Evening Echo County Senior Hurling Final
NEWTOWNSHANDRUM’S voice of experience John McCarthy explains better than
most what the club and the village mean to the Connor twins.
“Some people might love, shall we say, the perks, going to functions and all
that, being a Cork senior, but not with the boys. They just look forward to
coming home and hanging out with their friends or whatever.
“There was a great story about Wayne Rooney after he scored that wonder goal
against Arsenal when he was only 16, he just went home and just played
around on his BMX bike with his friends. That’s the way our boys are, they
just like to come back to their friends and enjoy the craic with them.”
Now don’t expect Ben and Jerry to be performing tricks on their BMXs like
they can with a camán, but the point is the same; friends, family, home are
pillars for them. And unlike the precocious firebrand Rooney there are no
multimillion euro bids to take the O’Connors from their boyhood club.
Ben even turned down a trip to Australia to receive the Vodafone hurler of
the month for September due to his commitment to the county championship and
Newtown.
He explains why the club means so much to him.
“I think fellas will always give their first allegiance to their club if
push came to shove. If you’re lucky you’ll get six or seven years or
whatever at the top with Cork, but you’ll be playing with your club all your
life. Still the dream for anyone is to do it with both, and we’ve managed
that, which is brilliant.”
Hurling and life have always been tributaries for the O’Connors, flowing and
intertwined from the source in Newtown.
Ben is at the coal-face of the club scene with a steady flow of customers
visiting for O’Connor hurleys every day, many hoping to grab a few words
about the next big match. He has the script down now - ‘will ye win?’ or
‘how are ye fixed?’ being most common - it’s a good complaint though, sign
of another successful season for club and country.
Most remarkable is the goodwill and support that the whole of North Cork
channels behind the small village, something Ben takes great pride in.
“We get a great support alright, right back around Duhallow, Kanturk,
Newmarket that area have always been great for us. Then the local teams put
the rivalry aside and get behind us and we even get fellas from over the
border in Limerick and it means a lot.”
Jerry is a little more removed these days, he’s spent his summer on the beat
in the city and now he’s in his final stage at Garda College in Templemore,
passing out three days before the county final.
Winding down the road from Tipperary or Newtown to Cork for training or work
he’s noticed the spread in the grá for the game, the way it’s filling young
hearts at the vital early stage.
“You drive through Charleville or Buttevant and instead of fellas kicking an
ole ball they’re carrying hurleys, and I think the hurling will take over in
those places. It’s like the two weeks of Wimbledon when every one has a
racket in their hands; if we keep the buzz going in Cork and club hurling it
’ll be kids’ first choice.
“You can see it with O’Donovan Rossa winning a junior county, there was no
one ever thought they’d pick up a hurley down that way. Success breeds
success doesn’t it?”
That success for the village stemmed from the famous young team Bernie O’
Connor guided from when they were a group of talented 11 year olds. Brendan
Mulcahy has been a Newtown mainstay since those days and he has no doubt
that the brilliance of Ben and Jerry was the catalyst for the success.
“We were all in the same class together at primary school as well. We always
had a good team, we were really solid, so we matched most teams man for man
and then we had two players who were extra special. At underage level two
outstanding players will usually make the difference.
We had a winning
mentality from the start and that made a big difference to us.”
Most encouraging for the club is that the telling underage spadework Bernie
put in 15 years ago is being replicated to ensure continued success, and in
Clifford, Herlihy, Bowles et al they are showing great potential.
“Liam Ryan has put in a huge amount of work with those lads for the last six
or seven years and winning the U16 county was a culmination of that, and it’
s great to think we’ll have players coming through to keep pushing us on.”
Having landed a remarkable Holy Grail in 2004’s All-Ireland club
championship, the small club have naturally struggled to recapture that
magic. The campaigning has been intense and relentless, especially for the O
’Connors, Morrissey and Pat Mul, and before the semi-final, a 20 minute
spell against Erin’s Own last year was the only time the team found top
gear.
Jerry feels they have struggled through a combination of lack of game time
together, with the county commitment taking precedence, and the inevitable
lull after St Patrick’s Day 2004.
“The form is very good in the camp now. Our only problem has been getting
games together as a team with four of us away with Cork, and you can’t beat
games to get you to gel.”
But with the Evening Echo county final only a week away and Liam MacCarthy
due a visit to Newtown again this year, Jerry feels it is difficult to
change the balance between club and county, and anyway, he relishes every
minute he spends in overdrive on the hurling pitch.
The one question many Rebel fans have is how it took him so long to nail
down a starting slot on the senior team?
“I was plugging away at half-forward and I had good days and bad days, maybe
more bad than good, but I’ve settled in the midfield. It’s worked out great
and long may it continue.
“That’s what will be important about next year for me, we’ve a great panel
and the local scene has been good, so there will be plenty of fellas pushing
to get on the team. No one will want to be giving up their spot so the
competition will be intense and spur us on.”
With the difficulties of a stop-start year and a lack of buzz in the club
behind them, Newtown looked ominously back to their best against the Barrs.
What could be most telling for the final was that their non-Cork players
shouldered the responsibility, something which pleased Ben greatly.
“It was probably our best game since the All-Ireland club final, fellas
seemed to be back to their best. It wasn’t flawless, but we got goals at the
right times and we spread the scores around a bit.
“I think, even though the results weren’t great in say the league, the fact
other players stepped up when we were away with Cork is standing to us now.
They’ve grown in confidence in challenge games and you could see that in
someone like Cathal Naughton the last day.”
On Sunday they’ll face a Cloyne team seemingly on a singular mission to
annex the county title and Ben is under no illusions about the task at hand.
“They are definitely similar to us, and in fairness they’ve been the team of
the year so far. They’ve wracked up some great scores and they’ll probably
be favourites. Still that won’t matter to us or them on the day; we’ve got
to worry about hitting our best form ourselves.”
Jerry agrees that they will have to match the East Cork men’s fire and
passion to ascend to a third crown.
“Cloyne are a driven team, they’re due a county, and they’d go through the
wall for you. If every player had the attitude their boys have they’d be no
fear. Donal Óg has brought professionalism to the set-up, with training at
six in the morning and all that, so we know what we’ll be up against.
“People might say we don’t have as much hunger as them, I hope that’s not
true, I know this will mean as much to me as 2000 or 2003.”
For Jerry the 1998 U21 win over Na Piarsaigh in the replay at Fermoy was the
most significant milestone; the first win at an adult grade and the first of
three in a row.
On Sunday Ben and Jerry hope they will find the hunger to land them a third
senior medal to equal that U21 tally.
For club and county the O’Connors don’t have an off switch, be it the last
20 minutes when the chips are down (ala Clare) or club success as we edge
toward winter. Wielding the camán with a surgeon's precision, drawing on
their endless resources of energy in the home straight, they are ready to
illuminate the Evening Echo county final.
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