Inspirational Tooreen couldn’t have left anything more on the field
The Tooreen players make their way onto the pitch in advance of last Saturday's final showdown at GAA headquarters.
The only thing worse than losing an All-Ireland Final after playing badly is to lose an All-Ireland Final after playing well. That might seem like a contradiction but hear me out.
The team that loses a final by underperforming can at least comfort themselves with the notion that they didn’t deserve to win; that they were – to use the old cliché – beaten by a better team on the day. But the team that plays well and still loses is forced to relive repeatedly those marginal calls and random moments that separate victory and defeat. Such is the unhappy and undeserved fate of the Tooreen hurlers who delivered a truly epic display in their All-Ireland Intermediate Club Championship Final against Upperchurch-Drombane last Saturday evening in Croke Park… yet still came away empty-handed and broken hearted.
For the entire second-half of normal time, the Mayo and Connacht champions delivered a pitch-perfect performance that had victory written all over it, and their lead point in the second minute of stoppage time was worthy of deciding an All-Ireland senior intercounty final, let alone the intermediate club grade. Indeed, there were so many scores in this final that were from the very top drawer, and Upperchurch-Drombane’s equaliser with the last puck of normal time was as good as it gets as half-back Gavin Ryan dashed the Tooreen dream by striking a mammoth free from inside his own half to force the game to extra-time.
Ray Larkin’s men spent most of those 20 additional minutes chasing shadows and found themselves 10 points behind with just three minutes remaining, yet somehow, were back within a puck of the ball when the final whistle sounded. It was an extraordinary spectacle – one that had everything from a neutral’s perspective in terms of superb scoring, last ditch defending, and a constant unpredictability that made it utterly compelling. But, sadly, from a Tooreen and Mayo perspective, there was to be no fairytale finish, despite a heroic performance that would easily have won an All-Ireland title on another day.
Tooreen’s battling display was even more impressive because it was achieved against the backdrop of a first-half that saw them comprehensively outplayed for long periods. Two points after 25 minutes was a desperately poor return for a team that scored 3-21 in their provincial decider against Galway champions Meelick/Eyrecourt. In fact, it looked like it was going to be one of those days when Upperchurch-Drombane’s Luke Shanahan struck his side’s ninth of the day in the 25th minute to leave seven between the teams, 0-9 to 0-2, with half-time looming.
Eight minutes later, the margin had been reduced to just a point, 0-10 to 0-9, after a barnstorming finish to the half by Tooreen, which began when goalkeeper Bobby Douglas struck a long distance free in the 26th minute. It was inspirational stuff from the Mayo men, and the only concern was that half-time had come at the wrong time for a team that had just found its perfect scoring groove. However, any fears in that regard were soon put to bed when Kenny Feeney hammered over a magnificent equaliser in the opening minute, and Tooreen hit the front for the first time a minute later through the tireless Fergal Boland.
Not even a superbly taken goal from Upperchurch-Drombane’s Conor Fahey in the 40th minute could derail the Tooreen train as Feeney again struck a fabulous equaliser from centre-field before Brian Morley put them back in front with another long-distance effort. Some of the point-taking by Tooreen in that second-half was just astonishing, and while they will rue a few missed opportunities, they could hardly have done much more to bring an All-Ireland club hurling title to Mayo for the first time. The magnificent Joe Boyle was denied a goal by a last-ditch tackle from Paddy Phelan and Liam Lavin struck a post in the 60th minute as Tooreen went in search of the winner. It seemed to have come via Morley after a wonderful piece of skill out on the right-hand sideline from substitute Fionn Delaney, but it was not to be and extra-time was ultimately a bridge too far for Ray Larkin’s team, which had been depleted by injuries and sheer exhaustion.
Huge credit must go to the Tipperary men who delivered the game of their lives and were deserving winners in the sense that they matched their opponents in every facet of the game, but it is so tough on Tooreen because they really did deliver a performance for the ages and they couldn’t have left anything more on the field.
Nowadays, sport is swamped with tacticians and AI-generated statistics, but we should never underestimate the most decisive factor of all in many tight games – that little bit of luck that separates those two imposters: triumph and disaster. Some will say that teams make their own luck, but I am not so sure about that, and last Saturday evening was just another reminder of the fickle hand of fortune on All-Ireland Final Day. There were so many marginal moments, and had the game gone to a replay instead of extra-time, there is every chance Tooreen would have won it, and that is not to be disrespectful to an outstanding Upperchurch-Drombane team who took the opportunity that fate offered up to them.
It's also tempting to file Tooreen’s defeat into that long catalogue of so-called Mayo misfortune on All-Ireland Final days, but to do so would be a grave disservice to Tooreen, who don’t want our pity or our sympathy. They are a small, rural community that have ploughed a lonely furrow as a hurling club in a football-obsessed county for over half a century and they know all about overcoming adversity. Indeed, if we want to show our sympathy to Tooreen, let’s start by putting more resources into hurling in Mayo because the standards they have set are truly remarkable, and if they were applied at a countywide level, we’d have an intercounty team that would match any side in the country.
That might seem fanciful but the work being done in Tooreen in the promotion of this wonderful game deserves something more meaningful than a pat on the back when they reach an All-Ireland Final. Every rural club in Mayo should take inspiration from the Tooreen story, and the next generation of hurlers who will have been inspired by the exploits of this wonderful team deserve the full support of our County Board and the wider GAA community in Mayo.
Anyone watching Tooreen last Saturday couldn’t feel anything but pride that these magnificent hurlers were representing our county of Mayo… and defeat, as heartbreaking as it was, doesn’t change that one bit. If every Mayo team that takes to the field in 2026 shows as much courage and skill as Tooreen, we’ll be in for a memorable year.
I am loath to criticise referees because they have an unenviable task, especially in this age of social media when they can be subjected to the vituperative outbursts that are neither warranted nor fair.
However, the performance of Wexford referee Eamonn Furlong in the All-Ireland Junior Club Hurling Championship Final was deeply disappointing – and that is putting it mildly. To make one bad decision in a game is perhaps understandable but to deliver three howlers in the space of 60 minutes – all against the same team – is simply inexcusable.
The least a team can expect in an All-Ireland Final is that they will have the chance to win the game on its merits and Easkey were totally denied that opportunity. A perfectly good goal was disallowed in the first-half, despite the referee initially playing an advantage and then pulling it back for a free to the Sligo men, and the decision to send off Andrew Kilcullen was impossible to fathom. It was obvious that Kilcullen was unaware of the opposing player’s presence before they collided, and while the clash of heads may not have looked great in real time, it did not merit a sending off because there was no evidence of intent.
The loss of Kilcullen was simply enormous. Any sending off is a huge blow to a team, especially in the modern game when teams are adept at making the maximum use of an extra man, but to lose your scorer-in-chief is virtually insurmountable.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, Furlong added insult to injury by issuing a yellow card to Kilbrittain’s Aaron Holland for a similar, if not identical, high tackle on Easkey’s Thomas Cawley. The lack of consistency was just infuriating, and it left a sour taste as Easkey deserved better in an All-Ireland Final than to be subjected to such a ham-fisted refereeing performance.
Soccer fans are constantly bemoaning VAR, but the GAA really needs to look at some form of assistance/guidance for referees on All-Ireland Final day. There is too much invested in these games by players, clubs and counties to have them decided on such random, inexplicable decisions.
Commiserations to Easkey on an outstanding display in impossibly difficult circumstances.
