Tipperary's 'Cocks of the North' are flying again
Borris-Ileigh and Tipperary hurler Brendan Maher is pictured ahead of the AIB GAA Munster Senior Hurling Club Championship Final where they face Ballygunner on Sunday, November 24th at Páirc Uí Rinn.
By John Harrington
Borris-Ileigh might be long-odds with the bookies to beat Ballygunner in Sunday’s AIB Munster Club SHC Final, but not in their own minds.
A healthy self-confidence has always been the default setting of a club with a long and proud tradition of hurling success.
The very crest stitched into their jersey – a farmyard cockerel - gives you an insight into this mindset.
The crest can be traced back to the club’s first golden era in the late 40s and 1950s when they were known as the ‘Cocks of the North’.
Back in those days their main man was the great Sean Kenny, who was as colourful a character as he was a brilliant hurler. The flair and personality he hurled with was the North Tipperary town made flesh as far as the club’s supporters were concerned.
To this day, they still have the same appreciation for honest hurling spiced with a good dash of showmanship.
When the Borris-Ileigh players parade around Pairc Ui Rinn before Sunday’s match it’s a certainty that a cockerel will be released onto the pitch, as is the club’s tradition when it contests major finals.
Not many clubs would have the innate self-confidence for that sort of pageantry, but it comes easily to Borris-Ileigh because they have the tradition to back it up.
They’re the last Tipperary team to win an All-Ireland club title (1987), and they won’t be the least bit overawed by Sunday’s occasion even if it’s their first time to contest one since 1986.
When you come from Borris, big occasions are to be embraced rather than feared, and success is to be expected rather than hoped for. It’s because of this mentality that Borris-Ileigh will back themselves to the hilt to pull off a shock on Sunday.
“Call it whatever you want but it is self-belief,” agrees Borris-Ileigh’s Brendan Maher. “It’s the belief that it’s been done before here so we can do it again.
“I suppose it adds to your belief that you know the guys (of the 1987 team) that were involved and you say ‘If they did it, why can’t we?’
“You obviously want to push yourself as much as possible to try and emulate what they did as well.
“There are two sides to it. It gives you belief but also gives you motivation as well. But, yeah, definitely a factor.”
Sean Kenny 'The Iron Man from Borris-Ileigh' leads his team out before the 1949 Tipperary SHC Final.
An interesting quirk of Borris-Ileigh’s history as a club is that they won the 1949 County Championship while competing in and winning the Mid-Tipperary division and the 1950 County Championship while competing in and winning the North Tipperary Championship.
This partly explains why to this day there’s a good deal of heat generated when they play neighbouring clubs from both divisions.
The accusation would also have been levelled by their neigbours over the years that when Borris-Ileigh were successful they didn’t exactly wear it lightly.
“I don’t think that perception is there of our generation because we haven’t had any success so we have no right to be cocky,” says Maher.
“But there maybe was that element from the team of the 80s.
“I think it was because there were such characters involved and they still are characters around the place. That kind of perception was thrown around a bit and it’s always kind of there.
“I think Borris is such a pass-through town, everyone stops for their drink there if they go for a match in Thurles, it’s the place to stop off for a drink and there’s always something going on.
“There’s great characters between hurling, coursing, dogs are massive in Borris as well. There’s a really fun, enjoyable community there to be part of.
“If you pull up in Borris and go for a drink, you’re bound to meet one or two characters we’ll call them!”
Borris-Ileigh players celebrate with the Dan Breen Cup after victory over Kiladangan in the 2019 Tipperary SHC Final.
Not even Borris-Ileigh’s greatest rivals will have begrudged them their county championship success this year. In fact, they’re very popular champions
Their parish has suffered such tragedy in the past year that the club’s success is regarded by all their neighbours as a much-needed shot in the arm for everyone in Borris-Ileigh.
And for Borris-Ileigh people themselves, a first county title in 33 years means all the more because it has come on the coat-tails of such a difficult time for so many.
“Yeah, it has, it definitely has,” says Maher. “It's nice to just have something positive to be talking about. Because it just felt like since August of last year it was just one after the other.
“Obviously it started off with Martin Hayes unexpectedly dying, and he was a huge member of the club who was involved with several teams.
“That flowed into the news of Amanda (Stapleton) being sick and my own cousin Lorraine (Chute) got sick and they both passed away.
“And then we had the two young men who passed away within a few months of each other. It just seemed like one after the other, it was just constant.
“I remember someone saying, 'God, if I have to do another Guard of Honour now, I'll go mad. It just seemed like that was constantly happening.
“So it’s nice to have something positive to talk about and something positive to give people a lift.
“It hasn't got rid of thoughts about them. Obviously, the families affected are still grieving - that'll always be there. It is nice to give a little boost and lift the spirits a bit.”
Borris-Ileigh has always been a very tight-knit community, but now more so than ever after the year they’ve had.
Brendan Maher celebrates after helping Borris-Ileigh to victory over Kiladangan in the 2019 Tipperary SHC Final at Semple Stadium.
A first county-title in 33 years would always have been celebrated with gusto, but the emotional release it generated was surely partly due to the fact that it was a much-needed shaft of light after some dark days for so many.
There’s a warm buzz in the town again, and both the Borris-Ileigh players and the club’s supporters alike are feeding off the energy it is generating.
“I saw that in Borris with the county final win,” said Maher. “You could see it up close and personal more so than the win with Tipp. That's why it meant so much to us.
“Myself and Dan [McCormack] were talking about it, and it's not to be disrespectful to anything we've won with Tipp, but it does trump everything.
“That's the reason: you're going back to family members, you're playing with family members, with relatives, with people you've grown up with. To win together, it does create a special bond.
“There's a great buzz around the place, there's a great buzz in our dressing room. Everyone is looking forward to going training, that's not always the case, especially when the weather is so bad.
“Lads are coming down now with smiles on their faces and you can't wait to get out on the pitch, as cold and wet as it is.
“It's lovely. It's an enjoyable time. We don’t want it to end and that’s another factor in why we’ll be giving it everything on Sunday.
“We want to represent our community, we want to represent Borris-Ileigh, and be able to go back around Borris-Ileigh after the game with our heads held high.
“To be able to look each other in the eye and say we gave it everything, with no regrets.”
Borris-Ileigh might not be good enough to be Ballygunner in the AIB Munster Club Hurling Final, time will tell.
But you can be sure everyone who empties out of the parish on Sunday morning will be cock-sure that they are, and that has to count for something once the ball is thrown in.
