Proud Shinrone stage poignant homecoming for Joe McDonagh Cup champions

IT was a very proud day for Shinrone GAA Club when they hosted a poignant homecoming on Sunday for the Offaly senior hurling squad that returned to the top flight by capturing the Joe McDonagh Cup the previous day.

A week after the U-20 hurlers had brought the county to its feet by capturing the All-Ireland title with a sensational win over Tipperary, the senior hurlers added to the feel good mood among supporters with a nerve tingling 2-23 to 0-26 win over neighbours Laois in Saturday's final in Croke Park.

The U-20 hurlers had a homecoming on the Sunday after their great win with thousands creating a terrific atmosphere in O'Connor Park.

The County Board judged things perfectly with the homecoming for the senior hurlers, bringing it to the Shinrone home of their captain, Jason Sampson – Sampson's delight at bringing the trophy and team to his home turf and his club's obvious pleasure at hosting it was just one of a few boxes that the homecoming ticked.

An attempt at a big homecoming in O'Connor Park or Birr's St Brendan's Park would not have worked. It would not have been appropriate to try and manufacture that – the Joe McDonagh Cup was a huge win for Offaly, just a short few years after they had been relegated to the Christy Ring Cup and failed to come out of it at the first attempt but a second tier competition is still a second tier competition.

Offaly's ambitions are set much higher than that and supporters were never going to come out in the same numbers that they did for the All-Ireland win seven days earlier. A few hundred, perhaps in the region of 500, attended the homecoming in Shinrone and they would have been lost in Tullamore or Birr – it's setting well removed from Tullamore and the north of the county meant meant that only a few supporters made the journey from that end of the county.

Yet the win was very much worth celebrating and acknowledging. The senior hurlers have been giving a terrific commitment and they had to work so hard to win – they also came through a titanic struggle on Saturday, somehow finding another gear at the death to score the final three points when it looked to be slipping from their grasp.

The homecoming gave them another opportunity to gather and to have a day of celebration before turning their focus to Saturday's All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship preliminary quarter-final against Cork in Tullamore.

The Shinrone setting worked perfectly, low key but there was a lovely, intimate atmosphere there. It also gave supporters an opportunity to show their appreciation and they did that with plenty of older generations out along with excited children who were eager to get autographs and pictures with players.

It was also great for Shinrone to host the homecoming. Jason Sampson is the first Shinrone man to lift a senior intercounty championship cup and a great example to young people of a player making the most of what he has and doing what is required to reach the highest level possible. The Shinrone club is also a great example of what hard work and good structures can bring – they won their first ever Senior Hurling Championship title in 2022 and returned to the final last year where Kilcormac-Killoughey were too strong.

Club chairman Sean Ormond and other officers were on hand to extend a genuine welcome to players, management and County Board officials as they arrived for the 1pm “throw in time”. He told the gathering about how pleased they were to host the function.

Offaly GAA chairman Michael Duignan described it as a “brilliant week” for Offaly hurling and said they couldn't do it without the people of Offaly being behind them.

Noting that it had been a “tough few years” for Offaly, he said it had taken a “massive effort” to get them back in the Liam McCarthy. “We were in the Christy Ring for a couple of years, we couldn't get out of it. We were in the Joe McDonagh for three years and the reason we got out of it is because of these lads. The easy thing for these lads three or four years ago would be to say we won't bother playing for Offaly, we will pack it in but they didn't.

“They knuckled down and they trained as hard as any team in Ireland, from the lowest base they came from. They deserve the greatest amount of credit for keeping Offaly hurling alive and bringing us back. Thanks a million lads.”

Team manager Johnny Kelly said he was thrilled to see the crowd and kids. “The real heroes in Offaly are the people who bring these kids to games and training sessions. Without that base, you won't have what we have here today because only a few years ago they were kids. That is where it starts. What has been achieved in the past week hasn't happened over a year or two, it is achieved by what parents have done for years.”

Kelly added: “You are a small county with limited resources but you make the most of everything you have. It has been a tough journey and we could see and feel the pain in people from the last number of years. They wanted to get back up to the Leinster championship and Liam McCarthy. That was weighing heavily on everyone involved.”

He saluted the players, talking about the huge sacrifices they make and work they put in at training. “For the older guys that have soldiered for years, I know the younger guys are just starting out, they got their just reward yesterday and it wasn't simple. They had to find a resolve and resilience within themselves when things were a little bit tight coming down towards the end but they are all the better for that.”

The Portumna man admitted that it won't be easy back in the top flight but with senior and U-20 managements working together, he felt they were in a “good place, concluding: “With the help of God, in a couple of years time we will be celebrating a Leinster championship so Offaly abu”.

Team captain Jason Sampson spoke with great passion, urging young people: “to bring your hurl with you every where. If Mammy and Daddy tell you not to bring your hurl with you, bring it with ye anyway.”

Sampson also talked about the older people present, the “joy on their face” and what it meant to them. “It is special to us to see that in older people,” he smiled.

He outlined the very close bond that exists between players. “It makes a difference and when Laois came at us yesterday, we dug that little bit deeper and that bit of resolve was there. That is what pulled us through in the end.”