Borris-Ileigh and former Tipperary hurler Paddy Stapleton pictured ahead of tomorrow's AIB GAA All-Ireland Senior Hurling Club Championship Semi-Final against St. Thomas’ of Galway at LIT Gaelic Grounds, Limerick.
By Michael Devlin
When asked if the weight of Borris-Ileigh's history and tradition is a heavy burden for Paddy Stapleton and his team-mates, he disagrees.
Instead, the veteran defender sees it as an inspiration.
Tradition such as ‘Paddy’ the cockerel, a club mascot that has strutted his stuff at the club’s championship finals for the past three decades. The cock has come to define a “self-belief” that embodies Borris-Ileigh teams and is even immortalised on the club’s crest.
Borris-Ileigh have produced four Liam McCarthy Cup winning captains to date, and remain the last Tipperary club to be crowned All-Ireland champions, back in 1987.
But given the 32-year barren spell that followed without even a county title to celebrate, Paddy the cock’s role on big days have become sporadic, only reaching Tipperary finals in 1988 and 2017 in that spell, and losing both.
The ‘87 success, led by legends such as Bobby Ryan, Noel O’Dwyer and Richie Stakelum, is still fondly remembered around the community, and if anything, its spectre has grown each year.
Eamon, left, and Patrick Grome with Borris-Ileigh team mascot Paddy the cockerel prior to the AIB Munster GAA Hurling Senior Club Championship Final.
The good times are back though, and the famous fowl was pride of place again as Borris captured Tipperary and Munster titles at the end of 2019. They now look towards an All-Ireland semi-final with Galway’s St Thomas’ tomorrow.
“When you go that long without even getting to a county final or any of that you probably get a bit. I never found it weighed hard on me,” says Stapleton, an All-Ireland winner with Tipp in 2010 and 2016. “I was realistic, I just didn't think we were there or thereabouts a lot of years but just weren't good enough.
“I don't think the history had any part to play in that. If we look back with cold eyes, we'd say players weren't 100 per cent right or we didn't have a good balance of age or forwards or backs or management wasn't 100 per cent in the right direction.
“I don't think it should have weighed because I just don't think we had it in our team but now to me it's an inspiration. I feel like we've done it in the past, it's no bearing on how we do now but it really feels like we're living up to something that is there already.
“It's not a total unknown, people in the parish, they remember what went on and they are getting that feeling again. They all remember that so fondly.
“I think it's very inspiring. We know those people, we see them in the pubs and in the shops. Like they had a fundraiser for us on their own back, that era so it's really brought that unity into it.”
Borris-Ileigh celebrate winning the 2019 Munster hurling title.
Was there any ever teasing though around the village that the modern generation would never stack up to that famous ‘80s team? Or even words of warning to keep their feet on the ground now that they’ve replicated their Tipperary and Munster triumphs?
“To be fair, they were never bad,” says Stapleton. “They are a very opinionated bunch there, but I think most good teams have opinionated people there. They always wanted us to do better now that's for certain, but we knew that and we knew we could have done better. They're more happy for us than anything else.
“And I tell ya, I didn't meet people happier than what they were after the last two cup wins. Honest to God, we met them all on the pitch and they were in floods of tears.
“Maybe there was a certain thing that was lifted off them. At last, there's somebody else to talk about when they have to talk about Borris hurling. Like they are constantly getting reminded about it, but they were just so delighted.
“They haven't said much to us I think they are just happy with the way we are playing and that our mentality and everything is pretty good, but yeah, one or two would clip you now, keep you in line no bother.
“I think a lot of people of that generation of people and sportsmen, you know yourself, back then it was about keeping yourself in line, it wasn't as encouraging but they, they'd be well able to clip you alright, no bother.”
Stapleton in action against Ballygunner's Dessie Hutchinson in the Munster final.
It’s been a difficult few years for the Borris-Ileigh community, and in particular Stapleton himself. His sister, Amanda, was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour and sadly passed away in May of this year, aged 31. The same month, John Ryan, a young player in the club, passed and so too did his teammate Nicky Cooney in August.
In 2018, Centre-back Brendan Maher also lost his cousin, Lorraine, and in August that year, club stalwart Martin Hayes tragically died. Time and again, hurling has been there to help soothe the community’s pain.
“We're hurling mad in Borris-Ileigh, like even when we were getting beaten and not getting past county quarter-finals, that's what people would be talking about. Some people are just addicted to it.
“I think people are just grateful to have finally made a breakthrough after having been trying for so long. It's a very, very special feeling around the parish. I don't know if you'd say they're in a good mood but they are banded together, we're a very tight-knit community now at this stage anyway.
“But it's still very, very difficult just for the families that are affected and the friends that are affected. It's not going to change any of that but it just gives us something to focus on and if you're feeling bad, of course, you're going to be feeling bad but it's giving you something to enjoy and that's what life is about I think.
“It's enjoying things and getting enjoyment in our lives, and we'd be very helpful for that.”
