Senior Hurling League : We open our campaign against Ballysaggart this Sunday at
11.30am in Ballysaggart.
Where's the Logic? Championship weekend, a weekend of great excitement for both
player and supporter but how about this for a predicament ! The county board in
their deranged wisdom have decided to play junior hurling and senior hurling
championship on the same day. Now look at the logistics of this. Clubs would
need two sets of jerseys for the same day. They expect supporters to go to two
games in different venues. Now not all clubs have a volume of players, so there
is in all likelihood at least some of the junior players being close to
starting senior who will have to tog out for two games and could if required be
involved in both. Where is player welfare here ? You also have management
of both, hurley and water carriers and medical officers having to attend both
and not having full concentration on their sole focus which should be one game.
We have a paid secretary in this county and the broader thinking should
be on the club player rather than the county man. They too added the cost
of buying bibs for the sideline now which must be numbered. These were handed
out to teams on previous occasions so what has happened to these?
Pairc Eamon De Paor : U14 football Cois Bhride v Kilrossanty 11.30
am Sunday . Ned Power Tournament is on again this Friday in the astro
turf on Friday at 6.30pm.
Deise Draw : The tickets will be handed out to promoters over the next
week or so. A six month draw with a chance to win €12,500 each month as well as
other prizes. It's €15 a month or €90 for the year. A vital fundraiser for the
club with €10.50 retained by the club and remainder going to the running of the
Waterford county teams. We had a jackpot winner last year in Maura Bermingham
.
Tallow GAA Lotto
Supported by Kearney's Restaurant.
2/3/2020 Jackpot
€12,200 No Winner Numbers: 1,11,15,26.
Consolation Prizes:
Melissa Murphy, Mike Condon, Claire Murphy, Christina McCarthy.
Promoter:
Daybreak
Next Draw :
9/3/2020 Lukies 9pm Jackpot : €12,600.
Johnny Geary Interview
Part 2:
PRO: The Tallow team of that time was made up of
four prominent underage age groups. Late sixties ,early seventies, mid
seventies and your group the early eighties. They gelled together well?
J.G.: Its debatable if they gelled WELL
together but they gelled OK . 4 players came from the 83 u 21 winning side on
to the senior the following year, Jim O Donoghue , Philly Curley , Pat Murphy
and myself . Philly always told the older lads on the team that we gave them
legs and the bit of speed they were lacking ( something they never really
agreed with us on ) but we did go on to win 2 seniors in 84 and 85 so I presume
what Philly said held a lot of truth.
PRO:You played on the two in a row team of 84 and
85. Was it difficult to break on to that team?
J.G.: Yes it was
difficult Ok . They had a lot of very good hurlers at that time , all who would
have played county at under-age and a number who were on the county senior
panel . You had the likes of Liam O'Brien , John McDonnell, the Curley
and Ryan brothers, Pat Daly, Mick Beecher, Timmy Sheehan all good
players so it was wasn’t easy to break on to the team and it was very
competitive for places .
PRO: A lot of Tallow men gained intercounty
experience for Waterford at this time, including yourself. What do you remember
of that ?
J.G.:yes I think all of our senior team at that
time would have played intercounty at some level at under age . I remember
playing U -21 against Cork in 82 and we had 6 from Tallow on the team
including Con Ryan, Mick Beecher , John Fitzgerald , Philly Curley, Pat Murphy
and myself . We would have had Liam O Brien, Eddie Curley , Connie Curley
, Mick Beecher , Timmy Sheehan , Pat Daly , Pat Murphy , Kieran Ryan , Philly
Curley who all played Co senior at some stage . My Intercounty career was
pretty short – the highlight being a defeat by Roscommon in Roscommon in a
League game –I think it made Front Page news on The Roscommon Herald the
following week ..
PRO: The centenary final, the new jerseys and the
rain.... Losing to Ballyduff by eight points at half time!
Continue...
J.G.: In the Centenary Final in 84 we played
Portlaw and had a new set of Centenary Jerseys for the occasion. . It was
played in Fraher Field . The forecast was for heavy showers on the day so when
we togged out we went out for our warm up while it was still dry. When we
completed the warm up and were back in the comfort of the dressing room, there
was a cloud burst and Portlaw had just gone for pre-game warm-up and they
got absolutely drenched .We had 2-3 on the scoreboard in the first 8 minutes.
I always thought that heavy rain had a huge bearing on the final result.. The
following year we played near neighbours Ballyduff in an All Western final in
Fraher Field. Ballyduff totally outplayed us in the first half leading by 8
points at half-time . A few switches at half-time and an early goal in the
second half brought us back into the game and we went on to snatch
victory at the end. There was a huge rivalry with Ballyduff in the 80 s where
they won 2 county titles and we won 3 in the decade but also huge respect that
I think is still there to this day.
PRO: The team was at the peak of it's powers in
85 I would think. You played Roanmore in a county semi final, Tallow scored
4-16 with 4-14 coming from play. The ultimate performance?
J.G.: Yes that performance was probably the best
from that team and there was nothing in it in the end. Roanmore were the
emerging force in hurling in Waterford going on to win 2 co titles in the
late 80's.
PRO: The eighties was a bleak period for the
country. Mass emigration and unemployment! You and fellow Tallow hurlers spent
times in the states..
J.G.: Yes Unfortunately there was very little
work in Ireland in the late eighties so it meant a lot of young men and women
had to emigrate to find work. Through the connection with Micky Pendergast in
New York it was the choice of most Tallow people to head there and The UK .
Micky was a great Ambassador for Tallow and Waterford in New York and did a
huge amount of work for emigrants in setting them up in accommodation and jobs
on arrival. At one stage there were 18 people from Tallow in the one Apartment
Block which was christened: “ The Tallow Towers ". A lot of us played for
Waterford in Gaelic Park in those times.
PRO: Kilruane MacDonaghs in Tallow! Full House!.
Munster club championship in our home venue! Lost by a point! They won the All
Ireland.....
J.G.: I think it was one of the highlights of
Tallow GAA over the years –playing in front of 3000 people in a Munster Club
Championship at our home venue . It was a cracker of a game that could have
gone either way , unfortunately we were beaten by a point by the eventual All
Ireland Club Champions
PRO: How much of an
affect did that loss have on the 86 season?
J.G.: I don’t
think it really affected the following year . We were going for 3 in a row and
were probably a bit complacement and didn’t prepare properly for the earlier
rounds. There was a new Championship format that year which was now run
on a league basis.We lost a few of the earlier rounds and all of a sudden we
were in a situation where we couldn’t qualify for the next stage so we were out
of the Championship and in a relegation battle which we lost and were relegated
to Intermediate .
PRO:We beat
Fourmilewater in the 87 western intermediate final. The cup was named after
Raymond O'Brien...
J.G.:Yes Raymond O
Brien was an a great hurler who unfortunately died tragically at the age of 22
. He had just began to establish a place on the Waterford Senior team and had
huge potential . It was great and fitting to win his Memorial Cup in 87.
