Fletcher and Shinrone focused on avoiding 'one season wonders' tag

HISTORY is littered with examples of clubs who rode into the limelight for a brief period and then sauntered off into the sunset, not to be seen again.

While they have proven their calibre by returning to the Senior Hurling Championship final in 2023 and certainly look to have brought their performance levels to a new standard, Shinrone are very much aware of the possibility of that label attaching to them.

One season wonders have been more prevalent in a modern sense in football where Durrow (1952), Ballycumber (1968) and Shannonbridge (1968) managed a single senior title – there are others but they are way back in the long distant past while Lusmagh are the most recent one title winners in senior hurling, back in 1989.

There are other cases. Tullamore bridged a 45 year gap when winning senior hurling in 2009 but couldn't add to it, losing to Coolderry in the 2010 final and then declining as quick as they came as a potent force.

The Shinrone manager, Trevor Fletcher made no bones about the predominant role all of this has played in their thinking this year. A Roscrea man living in Kilcormac-Killoughey, Fletcher still lined out for his adopted club in junior this year. He will once again be trying to ensure heartbreak for a number of players that he soldiered with for years in the 2000s/2010s – he played as K-K won their first senior hurling title in 2012 – but is completely focused on leading Shinrone to back to back titles.

There's a different feeling about this year?

“It's different but the same. Last year was the first for 99% of the population would never have seen a senior final bar the boys from 1961 or '62 or whenever it was. It's going to be different and I've told them it's going to be different but our focus is the same, in that we've a match to play and that's the most important thing, that we keep our focus on that match.”

The fact that it's in Birr and not O'Connor Park? There's issues with a number of different areas, smaller dressing rooms, warm-up, that sort of thing. Do you have to handle it differently?

“Yes. We talk about controlling the controllables. We can't control where this match is. To be fair to Birr, they've been on to me already about warm-ups areas and what's available through the schools, the rugby club, and parking, stuff like that. It's great that we know that already, that we're not worrying about where that might be. So in fairness to them they're pulling out all the stops. Me personally, I can only remember one, there, and that's going back to Coolderry playing Rynagh's a long time ago. Since I came home from America it's always been in Tullamore. You just have to adapt to it.”

How important is it for Shinrone to get back to a county final? There have been clubs before that have been one season wonders?

“What you said about the one-hit wonders is important. Absolutely, we've a match to play and nothing won yet for the second year. It's important for us to get back to the final to prove to people [who might say], aw, ye were lucky last year. I think we've handled that really well this year in our games. We've won games, I won't say convincingly, but we grinded out the games and I think that's purely down to being champions. We know the task on hand but it's great for the players moreso than the club to be back in that final again. Whatever happens happens, but it's great for them to be back.”

It's a funny year in the sense that you did what you had to do in the group games and didn't fire on all cylinders, yet you look to have come on to a different level this year?

“ I did say in an interview that we probably didn't play well but we did play ok but other teams probably rose because we were champions. I was probably a bit hard on ourselves. The win last year gave the lads the belief that we can win tight matches. We all know Shinrone weren't winning those matches years ago. Going into the first Ballinamere match, similar to last year, we went full intent to win it to go to the semi-final but to be fair to Ballinamere they scored the last seven points. What went wrong? I think we lost our shape and they got momentum and when another team gets momentum it's very very hard to break and deservedly they won the match. It's an easy cliche to say that the quarter-final stood to us but I wasn't happy with the last 10 minutes of our performance in normal time, we have away a six or seven-point lead. But we regrouped at half-time, we spoke about controlling the controllables. We speak about this all the time, we talk about the process and being brave. Being brave was one of the key things this year about our performances. We didn't panic. We were down twice at the very start of the game by six points and then in extra-time we were down three points five minutes in. And I think they showed brilliant character. We scored the next five points in a row to go two points up and we maintained that throughout and finished strong. I think it stood to us against Ballinamere. Going into the Ballinamere game it was 50-50 in my head to be honest. But again, I won't say we didn't worry about them, but we focused on how we play, we focused on what we do with the ball, we focus on we use the ball or support. Our turnover rate was fantastic that day and that was proved in the way the game went. It was tight up to 40 minutes and once we got a foothold we took control of the game.”

Your second half that day was close to your second half in the county final?

“It really was. It was one of the most professional, even more professional than last year, really professional, calculate and reassuring performance. I thought boys all around stood up and Ballinamere were going to throw the kitchen sink at us and they did, and we lost shape. But lads kept winning them small battles which is key. Our KPI [key performance indicator] is winning your mini-battle and the battle beside you. I felt there was so many lads popped up on that day in the second half, especially in the last 20 minutes.”

You were after coming off the back of two games, Ballinamere and Birr, where you hadn't put teams away?

“That was a huge concern for us, management, going into the game, the finishing of it. The Birr game was quite big and obviously the Ballinamere game was big. We were trying to identify what was going wrong for us. I can't put my finger on it. Was it loss of concentration? So it's something that we spoke about. Like when we get to squeeze we have to squeeze as much as we can. When the door opens you kick the door open and that's something I felt we did last Saturday.”

You've a team at the perfect age? A lot of lads in their mid 20s, in their hurling peak?

“You're right in that. I think Darren's (O'Meara) the oldest on the team, right back down to Dara (Maher) who's the youngest at 20 or 21. It just happened. A lot of those lads would have won minor back in 2013, myself and Ciaran Slevin were over the Kilcormac team and we were ahead in that game and Ciaran and I had to go straight back out and play against Birr in a final. So a lot of them would have won. I'm not saying that because you win a minor you're going to win a senior but a lot of them stayed hurling together which was probably key to our panel at the minute.”

What did you see as the challenges when you were talking about it in November and December and at the start of 2023?

“The biggest thing was the mental battle of the six inches in the sense that we can't let last year affect us. They learned how to win them games and now it was about how to put it into process. We spoke about composure, using the ball, and panic. In previous years they would have panicked in situations. It was evident last weekend, and we spoke about it, we don't care who scores as long as Shinrone scores. In previous years, previous to me being there or anyone being there, and no disrespect to anyone, but they would have been individualised. And they spoke about that themselves, more team play and more team scores. That was one of the things that stood out to us at the start of the year. And as I said, being brave in the tackle, being brave in making tackles, being brave in taking the shots. So brave is a huge word and there's a lot to go with that word brave.”

You had 11 scorers against Ballinamere. That has to be very pleasing.

“Absolutely. I think that's the biggest we had all year. And we had 17 turnovers. That's kind of huge in our KPIs. That comes down to trusing the other player on the team and that's something we spoke about – you're not the one that has to score. “

Your connection with KK is obvious. It's probably not as big a factor this year? You'd be friendly with Shane Hand I presume?

“Absolutely. Shane is hurling as long as I've been there. Conor Slevin is captain and he's one of my best friends. He was on the minor team with me. James Gorman was on Under 15 management team with me. I know them all. I spoke to the boys about this. Last year was different. The whole hype was about Shinrone's first ever. This year KK want to win, it's not revenge for last year but they want to win a county final. They haven't won one since 2017. I'm sure we're going to be a team in their way and they're going to be a different animal. I'm not saying they weren't prepared for us last year but they'll be definitely, definitely well prepared this year for us.”

The two teams are probably better this year?

“I would say so. We've matured and we all know how KK can play but there's a bit of a bright spark coming in with the young lads and a bit of pace. We're well aware of that.”

You came into to KK when there was a huge transformation in that club. Is Shinrone on the same trajectory?

“As I spoke to these boys about, winning the county final is everything and I spoke to senior members of the committee that the work needs to go into underage now. They're looking at their heroes, the lads that are on the pitch now. I remember when I was with KK and the numbers that came out after us winning our first, second and third county final was phenomenal. It is coming here. It is a small parish here as you are well aware and numbers are key in underage. The big thing now is obviously to concentrate on what we have but the next thing is the underage structure needs to be and I think they're going in the right direction.”