Christy O'Connor: Barrs can expect cauldron full of emotion in Clonmel

At the end of last Saturday’s Tipperary county football final, the Clonmel Commercials team and squad streamed towards Shane Ryan, the Commercials goalkeeper and son of the late Philly Ryan, the Tipperary senior football manager who passed away recently.

It was a poignant moment as the Ryan family were on the minds of every player, backroom member and supporter as the Commercials cruised to a 21-point victory against Kilsheelan-Kilcash and a record-breaking 22nd Tipperary senior football title.

LEGACY

It's been an extremely difficult few weeks for everyone associated with Commercials as they are still trying to come to terms with losing such an icon in their club. "Your legacy will live on forever throughout Clonmel Commercials and Tipperary,” Philly Ryan’s son Shane said in his eulogy mass.

It certainly will. 

It already is through his son who is also the current Tipp goalkeeper, a jersey his father wore with distinction for 15 years. 

With Philly Ryan having coached and managed so many of the current Clonmel generation, the evidence of his legacy was also fully apparent through the devastating performance Commercials delivered in Saturday’s final in Semple Stadium.

Their manager Tommy Morrissey spoke afterwards of how difficult the build-up the final was for the players and the management.

“I found myself in a very difficult headspace, just trying to contemplate going out to play a game of football and everything it was about,” said Morrissey. “But having gotten over that, I knew the group were in the same headspace. They got through that as well, and that was a massive hurdle for us.” 

Now that they have negotiated it, Commercials now turn their attention to Saturday’s Munster quarter-final against St Finbarr’s. They have great tradition in the competition. And Commercials will be even harder to beat with the game being staged in the Clonmel Sportsfield.

FORTRESS

Having played their last three provincial games in Thurles, Commericials are taking their home fixture in the province back to Clonmel for the first time since 2017. The last time they were there for a fixture in the province, they rattled Dr Crokes, who were then the reigning All-Ireland club champions.

The pitch is in far better condition now than it was in previous years for a fixture of this magnitude. A lot of work has gone on around the ground but the place will be even more of a cathedral of high emotion given the recent sad passing of Commercials’ favourite son.

That’s the fortress that the Barrs will now enter on Saturday but they won’t need reminding either of how well Commercials have always done against Cork sides in this competition.

It’s only three years since Clonmel went to Páirc Ui Rinn and whipped Nemo Rangers by seven points. It would have been 10 if Mark Cronin hadn’t fired in a late consolation goal for Nemo. Even at that, the goal only added a false layer of complexion to an ugly defeat for a Nemo side that were restricted to just one point from play for close to 35 minutes of that second half.

Commercials had no fear of the Cork champions having beaten them in the 2015 Munster final. That may have been a smash and grab job through a Michael Quinlivan goal with the last play but Clonmel were on a totally different level when the sides met again in 2022.

Their tradition as the most successful club in Tipperary has always given them huge belief in Munster and Commercials have always carried that inherent confidence into the provincial championship. Especially against Cork sides.

In the history of the Munster club championship, Commercials have met Cork clubs on seven occasions. And Commercials have won three of those matches. 

Outside of Dr Crokes, no other club in Munster has a better strike record against Cork clubs than Clonmel.

In their first year in the competition in 1965, Clonmel Commercials beat Cooraclare from Clare in the semi-final but lost the final to East Kerry.

In the 1966 competition, they beat Kill from Waterford in the quarter-final before losing the semi-final to Cork side St Nicholas’ by one point in Dungarvan. And St Nicholas’ went on the beat Kerry side John Mitchels in the final.

In 1971, Clonmel ran a star-studded UCC team to four points in the final. They didn’t meet Cork opposition again for nearly two decades but the result was never sweeter, with the Commercials causing a huge shock when beating the Barrs in the 1990 Munster semi-final in Ballinlough. They went on to prove how good that team was when only losing the final to Dr Crokes after a replay.

Castlehaven did beat them well in the 1994 Munster final. It took another 21 years for the Commercials to meet Cork opposition again, when they scalped Nemo in the 2015 final. Nemo did exact revenge for that defeat in the 2019 Munster decider but Clonmel turned the tables on the famous Cork club again three years later.

The following year, Clonmel ran Dingle to three points in the semi-final, which again proved their credentials against the big guns in the province.

Saturday is Clonmel’s first time back in Munster since but going home to the Sportsfield should make them harder than ever to beat. 

And given the emotion that has been circling around the club and the town for the last few weeks, the Barrs will be walking into a cauldron that this group has rarely, if ever, faced before in the province.