For David Burke and Declan Hannon, that scrap of paper with all the right names and mentions will have added an extra wrinkle to their All-Ireland preparations.
The captains of Limerick and Galway will have most of their focus on getting their own performances right, at Croke Park, this Sunday. You could forgive either man for looking beyond the game to the moment that, results going their way, they have to address a sold-out Croke Park and fans watching the world over.
Burke had the pleasure last year but Hannon’s Limerick teammates will be playing their hearts out to get their man up those Hogan Stand steps to deliver his penned victory speech.
Former Tipperary star Eoin Kelly had the honour of making the captain’s speech before he lifted the Liam MacCarthy trophy, in 2010. Kelly joined The GAA Hour at The Sugar Club for a hurling final preview and (from 18:00 below) offered some sage advice to Burke and Hannon on speeches.
Kelly says that the workload has eased on inter-county captains, in recent years, with liaisons being appointed to help with the requests from teammates, family members and friends.
The big extra, he says, is getting that speech sketched out early in the week and put safely to one side. He says:
“There’s no point in ignoring that, d’ya know, because you’re hoping that is going to happen.
“With myself in 2010, I organised my speech on the Wednesday before [the final]. I wrote it out on a piece of paper; just a couple of bullet-points.
“I wrote it out and went to my locker. I pulled out my drivers’ licence and I put the speech into that… the plastic cover for that. I thought, ‘If there’s rain this Sunday, I’m not getting this smudged’.
“When I landed into the Croke Park dressing room on Sunday – and this just tells you when you’re right and tuned in – I just handed the speech to the kit-man and said, ‘Hang onto that. I’ll be needing that afterwards’.”
Get the speech written and put snugly away for the weekend, and hand it to someone within the back-room team for safe-keeping.
Kelly definitely did need the speech as Tipp stopped Kilkenny’s five-in-a-row quest and claimed the Liam MacCarthy. One year later, though, and a speech written just in case the Premier County retained their cup was not required.
“I’d say I didn’t know where the speech was,” the Paddy Power ambassador admits. “I’d say it was in the bottom of the kit-bag or something.”
