Fergal Boland of Tooreen, Mayo, pictured ahead of the AIB GAA All-Ireland Hurling Intermediate Club Championship Final, which takes place this Saturday, January 14th at Croke Park at 7pm. The AIB GAA All-Ireland Club Championships features some of #TheToughest players from communities all across Ireland. It is these very communities that the players represent that make the AIB GAA All-Ireland Club Championships unique. Now in its 32nd year supporting the GAA Club Championships, AIB is extremely proud to once again celebrate the communities that play such a role in sustaining our national games.
By John Harrington
If you want to achieve, first you have to believe.
That can be easier said than done, especially if you’re a hurling club from a county with little tradition of the sport.
For those unaware of the Tooreen Hurling Club story, the presence of a Mayo club in an Intermediate All-Ireland Hurling Final might look like a bit of an anomaly.
But they’re not in the least bit surprised themselves that they’ll be running onto the Croke Park pitch on Saturday evening.
“I suppose at the start of the year, not sounding cocky or anything, but we fully expected within this group of players to be in an All-Ireland Final this weekend,” says Tooreen’s star forward, Fergal Boland.
“Obviously with that you have to win Mayo which is a massive struggle every year because we play our close neighbours Ballyhaunis who know us inside out so it's probably our toughest game of the year. .
“Then, obviously, you have to win Connacht. But we have confidence in ourselves that we were always going to be here this weekend. There's no issue with any belief anyway amongst the players.”
That self-belief has been hard-won over a good number of years. Such is the passion for hurling in Tooreen, that they’ve long had a tradition of looking beyond their own county’s borders to test and improve themselves.
Many of the players on this senior team would have played against Galway sides at underage level in the Suck Valley League, and won Connacht U-16 club championships in 2005, 2011, and 2015.
They’ve now won four of the last five Connacht Intermediate Finals, beating Galway opponents in all of them.
Tooreen players pictured at a coffee morning with supporters last weekend ahead of Saturday's AIB All-Ireland Club Intermediate Hurling Final.
The All-Ireland series has been a learning process, with defeats in three semi-finals before they finally jumped that hurdle this season.
“The first year, we played the Leinster champions,” says Boland of that learning curve. “We played Ballyragget. Now, looking back on it, we were definitely overawed by the fact we were playing a team from Kilkenny.
“And then in 2019, we played a team from Cork, Fr O’Neills. I think now, the fact that we've played so many challenges against teams around the country, the stronger hurling teams, I don't think it makes a whole pile of a difference to be honest who we're facing.
“When you get to an All-Ireland final, the quality is going to be high anyway, whether that's a team from Wicklow or Kilkenny. I think from 2017 to now, we definitely believe in our own ability. And that's down to the fact that we've played a lot of challenges all over the country in stronger hurling counties, and we know we can mix it with the best.”
They’ve won five Mayo titles and four Connacht titles in the last six years with pretty much the same group of players. By now they’re a well-oiled machine that plays a very effective brand of hurling.
“It's crazy, I was just thinking back there this morning and probably my first year senior was 2013 and we won the County Final that year but then didn't win it for four years,” says Boland.
“I remember sitting down with one of the lads, Cathal Freeman, in his sitting-room one day and we were like, 'What's the story? We're going to waste these few years away if we don't do something. Then we got a really good group together, a good core together, and everyone has just put in a savage effort the last five/six years.
“It's the same players that are involved now that were involved in 2017 and that's a huge thing. It benefits us an awful lot because we're so used to playing with each other.
“And obviously then our management team have done so much. We're just so blessed to have really good lads around us and really good people in the club who give so much to let us be successful on the field.”
They’ll go into Saturday’s Final against Limerick and Munster champions, Monaleen, as underdogs, but they fully believe themselves they can pull off a shock.
“Definitely,” says Boland. “When it's Mayo against Limerick, obviously you're going to be underdogs. The lads in the management team have done a good bit of work on them, and we got a bit of information on them. They're obviously a good team. If we stand off them and give them time, we won't stand a chance.
“But if we mix it with them and believe in our own ability, I think we've a great chance. But if we show them too much respect, we'll probably get hammered. We just have to start well, and hopefully we'll be alright.”
