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Tipperary captain Tommy Dunne reflects on his journey to the 2001 All-Ireland victory, discussing his initial awe of the team, the pressure of competition for his position, and the relief of finally winning the championship.
BY THE TIME he had the Liam MacCarthy Cup lifted, it was the pinnacle of a long climb for Tipperary captain Tommy Dunne, 25 years ago when Tipp won the All-Ireland.
He was always going to make it, but his starring role in Toomevara's county title in 1992, when they beat Thurles Sarsfields in a replay to bridge a gap back to 1962, brought him straight into Babs Keating's panel. Success with Tipp took longer. By the time it arrived with the All-Ireland in 2001, it acted as a bridging title from 1991 to 2010. It stopped the sort of drought that Cork are currently experiencing.
Beating Galway in that final came as a sweet relief to Dunne, almost a decade after walking into a dressing room full of All-Ireland winners and having to make his own way through tough love.
"I remember after the match that I felt very relieved what I had accomplished, for myself, as a hurler. If I had finished without an All-Ireland as a hurler, I would have been devastated. Devastated," says Dunne now.
"I am sure I would have got over it and moved on and been happy with what I had. But I know I would have been devastated and it was that important to me. It was how I measured myself, really.
" Even in a county as sure of itself as Tipperary, he admits to a small bit of imposter syndrome. "It took me a long time to believe in myself that I could captain Tipp to an All-Ireland. I found one of the hardest things I had to do was to convince myself that I was a good captain and that I would be a good enough captain to win an All-Ireland with Tipp.
"That took a lot of time and I didn't really believe it until it happened, if I am being honest," he admits. His uncertainty was centred around his own form. Tipperary went right through from pre-season into the 2001 National League final against Clare, a game four weeks before the same two meeting in the Munster championship semi-final. They played 17 games in that campaign, recording one draw against Kilkenny in Nowlan Park during the league, and 16 wins.
But towards the end of the league campaign, Dunne felt unsure of his place and could feel John Leahy breathing down his neck for a starting berth. Dunne had played with manager Nicky English, but Leahy had more history with him.
"I wasn't playing that well. I was playing okay. Just a 6/10. Perhaps touching a 7.
But no more than that. I was doing enough. But I was struggling with form," he says. At a billboard in Toomevara.
INPHO INPHO An article appeared in The Irish Independent, noting that Leahy had returned to full fitness and was battling for his place. It fed a bit of paranoia for Dunne.
"In those days, the 15 was settled. There were very few changes from game to game unless there was an injury or a fairly dramatic loss of form.
"That's why the thing was magnified a little bit. There was a concern for me that, 'Hold on a second. It might be the case that I could be dropped here.
'" In the gaps between league and championship, he had to go all-out in training, despite the niggle of a hamstring getting tighter. In an in-house game in Semple Stadium, English decided on a crude test and paired Dunne with Leahy. Both knew what was at play. Advertisement "I made it my business to make a statement.
I think I did make a statement and enough of one that he pulled me from the game just after the break in the game," he said.
"He pulled me and I knew at that stage that I had it put to bed. I didn't look back after that then.
" Accolades A two-time All-Star before that year, Dunne walked away from the winter as the Hurler of the Year for the All-Star, Texaco, and GPA award schemes. Of all their All-Ireland successes, there is something unique about 2001, coming as it did ten years after their last and nine years prior to their next, in 2010.
When Dunne came into the team in November 1992, a great number of the 1991 All-Ireland team were still in their prime, including English himself, Michael Cleary, Pat Fox, Declan Ryan, John Leahy and the Bonner brothers.
"I was completely in awe of the whole environment and Babs was still the manager. These were household names in the national sport and I was the rookie, gob-smacked. It took a long time for me to feel okay in the place," said Dunne.
"I was never made feel unwelcome but you knew you were an apprentice and you were going to have to do something fairly special to become established right away. " While he wouldn't describe it as a closed house, it did inform how he would treat county hopefuls in his many coaching roles. "I always got the sense they wanted me to develop and become a Tipperary player. It wasn't said like that.
Babs didn't have to call on me at all.
"I was always very conscious then in whatever team I was involved in as a coach or a manager, that any young lad coming through the door, was made feel part of it and made feel that he could make a difference very quickly, rather than seeing him as a long-term thing.
Tommy Dunne Tipperary All-Ireland Hurler Of The Year Nicky English John Leahy Babs Keating Toomevara
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