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12 Oct 2025
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12 Oct 2025
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Sean Dolan, left, with celebrating St Rynagh's team mates in 2019
SEAN Dolan allowed himself a quiet smile as the irony of what he is saying dawns on him. He had been in sensational form for both St Rynagh's hurlers and footballers last year as they reached their senior and intermediate finals, leading from the front with a series of powerful displays.
He comes from the “football” end of the parish in Cloghan and has a deep love for the game but he has also excelled in hurling and it is here where he has featured for the county – 27 years of age, he had been on the Offaly senior hurling panel for a couple of years before opting out as Michael Fennelly took over.
He was outstanding as St Rynagh's won the intermediate football title last year and is one of the players who would have come on the radar of the county football management.
Preparing for the original Senior Hurling Championship final against Kilcormac/Killoughey last year, Dolan was asked last week about his sporting allegiance. “Well I always considered myself a more natural footballer. It would be easy to say that I enjoy hurling more because we have been more successful but I would say that when I am on a football field, I am at my most comfortable in any sport. I couldn't choose but I would be a more natural footballer.”
If you got a chance to become an Offaly senior footballer, would you take it, bearing in mind that dual players probably can't survive at that level.
“I would have to consider where I was with the hurling but it was an idea I toyed with for a while. It would be something I would think about. I have a lot of friends in with the hurlers now and I feel well adjusted to the hurling side of it. It isn't something I would rule out. I don't think there is a dual county player left in the country now, it would be impossible.”
2020 was a great year for St Rynagh's with football and hurling going well. Earlier in the year, it looked like you might see nothing at all?
“We were delighted to get back and play. The long break was hard on lads and then the demands on the body were fairly severe. Lucky enough we managed to get through the football and hurling season. We are looking forward to the next games”
Did you keep yourself fit during the lockdown?
“I was going a good bit. I was doing a good few 5ks at the start of the lockdown. Then it looked like the GAA wasn't going to come back at all and I took my foot off the gas a little bit. Then once you get back into championship and you have lads bouncing off you, you find yourself getting fit. I wasn't over training. The body needs a rest as well.”
Was it nice with no crossover between club and county?
“It was nice to know you were playing every second weekend and that it would be over pretty soon. That it wouldn't be a big long slog of county training and no games. It was definitely beneficial in that regard and it was an enjoyable season.?
Would you like to see club and county seasons being segregated properly in the future?
“I think if we could shorten the club championship, it would give county a players a chance to play a shortened county season. In fairness, it benefits the club when you have the county boys at hand and training improves. The standard is higher.”
How hard is it to come back into club after the county season ends?
“I found it more difficult, I suppose I was naive enough coming back in after the county to think I would be a step faster than the club lads, which obviously you are expected to be. It is hard to readjust and realise I have to work twice as hard as I ever did. That you are not as good as you probably thought you were just because you were with the county. You do have to work just as hard at club level as county. It doesn't come easy at club either.”
It is a great time for St Rynagh's but those times don't last forever?
“Hurling like any sport is enjoyable while you are winning. If you want to stay enjoying it, you want to win as much as possible. It is great to be involved in a club that is doing well because so many great players go through their careers without winning anything. We will try and stay on top and win as many medals as we can.”
St Rynagh's have shown that they can finish very strongly and have great power and strength?
“That comes from having a bench where you have two or three lads who can come on and make a difference. If a sub comes on and plays well, it boosts the whole team as opposed to a lad who is already hurling well. It says to the opposition that there is no end to this panel. Then for your own sake, it is great to see a fresh pair of legs and if a sub gets a score, it is nearly worth two. Your bench is vital. It is providing us with great strengths. If you look back over the last number of games, it is the lads coming in who have nearly won the games for us.”
How hard is it being a dual club?
“Usually, we train twice a week for football and twice a week for hurling. If it is a football week, you train twice for football and you might get in a hurling session as well. If it is a hurling week, you train twice for hurling and you might get in a football one. There was good leniency there this year and understanding with the managers to know that the lads who are doing the two are doing twice as much. You would be sore for a couple of days after a game. We managed to work it well this year and there were no hiccups.”
It basically means that every week is a recovery week?
“Yeah. If you played your game on a Sunday, you do your recovery Monday. If youp ush yourself too hard on the Tuesday, you wouldn't have fully recovered. The main thing this year was to keep yourself fresh and to be big enough to be able to say, I am too sore to train. To say that in the long run, this will be more beneficial for me and the team if I don't train. That comes down to if lads trust you to know that if he could train, he would train. I think everyone trained as hard as they could this year and rest is very important.”
Have you suffered from any injuries?
“I have trouble with my hip every so often but I was rehabbing it for three months last year and that prepared me for this season. Hopefully if I get a few weeks off this Winter, I will be able to rehab again. It is all rest and recuperation. You do need a couple of weeks every now and again.”
St Rynagh's and Kilcormac/Killoughey are very similar teams and it is close to a 50/50 game?
“I would say we are two very well balanced teams. It will be an interesting day. Both teams have been scoring very well but I don't expect a big shootout. I think it will be a typical Kilcormac/Killoughey, St Rynagh's game where it is nip and tuck. I doubt if it will get into the 20s and I would say it will be in the balance up to the last few minutes.”
St Rynagh's showed in the final against Birr last year that they can come late to win. Ye looked to be gone with fifteen minutes left. What happened to click for you?
“I think we had finished very well in our semi-final last year. Belmont were up by a point with about ten minutes to go and we managed to win by two which was a massive victory. To come into the final and know that you had that in your arsenal, was a help. Not that you would be comfortable but you would always know that in the last ten minutes, there would be another kick. I wouldn't go into a game resting on that but it is good to know that you are never really beaten until the final whistle.”
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