Roanmore senior hurler, Billy Nolan, pictured with members of the club's underage academy.
By John Harrington
Situated between Mount Sion and De La Salle in the hurling heartland of Waterford city, it’s fair to say that Roanmore find themselves between a rock and a hard place.
Since their heyday in the late eighties and early nineties they’ve usually shivered in the shadow of their two next-door neighbours and Ballygunner, who are only a few kilometres away on the other side of the city.
They’ll finally get a long awaited opportunity to bask in the sun themselves this weekend though when they contest their first Waterford SHC Final in 31 years and try to prevent Ballygunner winning an eight title in a row.
Their story is an inspirational one because it shows what can be achieved with relatively few resources if your club is run properly and has worked hard to build a vibrant culture.
A large chunk of the Roanmore panel are in their late teens and early twenties and are a testament to the work the club have done to revitalise their underage structures which in turn has transformed them at senior level.
“It's no secret that there was a time when the club behind the scenes and on the field struggled for a while,” admits Roanmore club chairman, John Ryan.
“We went back down intermediate in the early 2000s and it was terrible for us. We struggled to get back up for a few years.
“We felt a separation had grown between the juvenile and adult ends of the club and we just had to close that gap.
“Thankfully, over the course of the last 10/12 years we have closed that gap and now every child knows every adult and ever adult knows every child.
“They're all up around the field together pucking around. You have to keep that sense of unity, you can't let a gap develop there or you're in a lot of trouble.”
Roanmore's senior hurlers are make a big contribution coaching the club's underage teams.
Ryan isn’t exaggerating when he says every adult knows every child in the club and vice versa.
The reason they’re so familiar with one another is because the Roanmore senior players are very involved with the juvenile coaching in the club.
“We have fantastic lads over our underage teams now and most of them are players with the senior team,” says Ryan.
“The likes of Gavin O'Brien and Charlie Chester, Cian Wadding, and Harry White to name just a few, they're all hugely involved with the juveniles.
“They're only young lads themselves but they're looking after teams for us. We're not a big club, we don't have a big membership, it's a very, very small membership in the overall scheme of things.
“But our players are all great to get involved with teams, they could be looking after the U-8s or U-9s and all the way up from there. Gavin White was the manager of our minor team that won a Division 2 County Final on Saturday just gone.
“So, a day before the senior final you had all our senior team at that match and many of them heavily involved with the team. Gavin was the manager, Harry White, Cian Wadding, and a few others were all involved too.
“That's the type of club we are. This bunch of lads who are in around the senior team are a great bunch.”
Roanmore clubman, Gavin O'Brien, pictured on duty with Waterford.
Former Waterford senior hurler, Gavin O’Brien, has been Roanmore’s main man during their run to Sunday’s County Final, scoring 0-11 in the semi-final win over Dungarvan and 2-8 in the quarter-final win over Lismore.
As far as Ryan is concerned, though, O’Brien is much more than just a very good hurler. He’s been a huge part of the club’s development off the pitch as well as on it in recent years.
“Look, if every club had a Gavin O'Brien they'd be in an awful better place,” says Ryan. “Gavin gives his time to every team. Any team that needs a help out with coaching or a bit of guidance, then Gavin will give it.
“And the rest of the lads feed of that. The young senior hurlers feed off Gavin. That's not putting Gavin out there above anyone else, because they all work very, very hard for the club.
“If anything needs to be done in the club they're all happy to come up and help you. They'd do anything. We have loads of lads like that.
“We built a gym and a dressing-room two years ago and we did it ourselves on Saturdays and Sundays, that's the type of club we are. The young lads helped out throwing blocks up on the scaffolding and whatever else they could do, that's the type of lads they are.”
Within the club they knew they had a talented generation of hurlers, and the appointment of Peter Queally as manager was a masterstroke in terms of getting the very best from them.
Roanmore manager, Peter Queally.
His predecessors in the role, Cha O’Neill and Philip Murphy had laid a very solid foundation for him to build on, but there’s no doubt either that Queally’s managerial nous (he has now brought four different clubs to a Waterford senior final) has elevated this Roanmore team to a new level.
“Peter would be the first to tell you that he inherited a team in a great place and he's right in saying that,” says Ryan. “When I first sat down with him to have a cup of coffee with him and talk about coming on board he never hesitated, in fairness to him. Not for a second did he hesitate, he wanted to get involved.
“He knew what the character of the lads was never in doubt, but Peter brought something different. The lads seem to build up a new self-belief and an awareness of what you have to do outside the game, outside of the nights at training. To know what you should be doing when you're not in the field.
“He's cool and calm with them and able to talk to them. This is his second year with them now and he's after really getting into them. He's really gotten it across to them of how to go about being prepared to win a match. He has that about him.”
Roanmore’s preparation will have to be spot on for Sunday, because they’ll be rank underdogs going into the match against a Ballygunner team that has already sealed its greatness by winning seven county titles in a row.
“Sure we're well used to that,” says Ryan of their underdog status. “And rightfully so we'll be massive underdogs because Ballygunner have been the standard bearers in Waterford for a very long time.
“This is their eight in a row and they'll be massive favourites. The backbone of the team have a lot more county medals than many other clubs have in their whole history.
“But, look, that's not going to bother us at all. We were underdogs last Sunday and the Saturday before that too so it's nothing new to us.”
Roanmore and Ballygunner will contest the Waterford SHC Final this Sunday.
They’re in it to win it, but even reaching this County Final has been a real shot in the arm for small club like Roanmore.
There’s no parish rule in Waterford city, so all the clubs are effectively competing for the hearts and minds of the same pool of young players.
There are obviously family allegiances and club-school links that determine much of the flow, but there are plenty of ‘floating voters’ who will gravitate towards whatever club has the highest profile at any given time so a county final appearance is real shop-window stuff.
All the more so if they can pull off an upset and win the thing.
Has Club Chairman, Ryan, given much thought to just how good a feeling that achievement would be?
“I have,” he laughs. “But I'm going to keep that to myself! Look, we won a county title in '89 and '90 and I know what it was like for the area at the time, but I think this would be a lot bigger. We're a club that's ready to win a county final. And if we can perform on Sunday, then we'll have every chance, but of course we know Ballygunner will come at us and come at us hard.
“What it would mean to the club and to the area if we could win it, would be just massive.”
