Get Ger Browne his hurley back.
The bond between a hurler and their number one hurley is like nothing else. It’s not just any hurley, it’s their hurley. Sometimes, it’s love at first grip, other times, it can take a while to get used to it but when you eventually do and the stick goes from breadwinner to moneymaker, you won’t drop that hurley for anything.
There’s trust. From pucking off the gable end of the house until new paint is required to stitching goals from the 30 in training and sticking points from the 65 on the run in matches.
Tipperary’s Ger Browne had a hurley like that. A hurley that blasted one to the roof against Galway in the All-Ireland under-21 semi-final.
GAANOW Rewind takes a look ahead to this Sunday's @BGEGAA U21 Hurling All-Ireland Final as Ger Browne and his @TipperaryGAA team mates prepare to go head-to-head with Tim O'Mahony’s @OfficialCorkGAA at Gaelic Grounds, Limerick! pic.twitter.com/QbAfQc0W2a
— The GAA (@officialgaa) August 23, 2018
A hurley that was taken from him in the midst of the madness on Sunday after he’d helped Tipp beat Cork against all the odds in the last ever under-21 hurling final, as reported by Stevie O’Donnell of Tipperary Mid-West Radio in its aftermath.
And Browne’s trusted camán had served him well in Tipperary’s underdog triumph too. The Knockavilla Kickhams club man landing a beauty in the second half that helped kick start Tipperary’s revival.
From there the 5/1 shots would go onto win with only one point to spare, avenging their 13 point hammering to the same opponents in the Munster decider in the sweetest manner possible.
And by God did the men, the women, the players, the supporters and the mentors of the Premier County enjoy it. The scenes down in the Gaelic Grounds on the final whistle were like something the Limerick field hasn’t seen since the Shannonsiders won Munster back in 2013.
There were scenes like these.
The brother is like a young calf let out for the first time at the final whistle😂😂😂😂 that winning feeling👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/Tw5HU5xaJu
— Liam Sheedy (@LiamLsheedy) August 26, 2018
And Ger Browne was stuck in the middle of it all, of course he was.
“You’re on such a high after a win like that, you’re just in a different world I suppose,” said the Tipperary senior panellist to SportsJOE.
And Ger did what all hurlers do after a win of such seismic proportions. He threw the helmet off, he left the hurley down, he joined a pile-on, he soaked in his second All-Ireland win in the last three years.
“I left them (the hurley and helmet) down straight after the final whistle went. I suppose I didn’t really care where they went after winning the game,”he said.
After going buck-mad on the field, after climbing the steps to receive the James Nowlan Cup with his teammates, Browne retreated to the sanctuary of the dressing room where he noticed he hadn’t his hurley and helmet with him.
“I only noticed when I came back into the dressing room after the celebrations that I hadn’t the hurl and helmet, so I went back onto the field and there was no sign of it there,” he said.
Now it could have been picked up by somebody innocently, but seeing as Browne’s name was written across his hurley, it wouldn’t be too hard to realise who the real owner was after a while.
The helmet has popped up in the meantime, but Browne himself says that having the hurley would mean a little bit more.
“They both have sentimental value to me, I’ve had them for ages now and I suppose as a hurler you’re very superstitious about things like that, especially when you’re after winning an All-Ireland with them.”
“I found the helmet back, but to have the hurley would mean a bit more.”
All he wants is his hurley back. If you can trace those Knockavilla grains, you’d be helping a hurler in need out.
