Fair play.
Maynooth University won the Ryan Cup on Saturday afternoon in Mallow. The Kildare college breezed past the UUJ challenge in the final to raise the tier 2 third level college’s hurling championship for the first time since 2014.
At the start of the year, Maynooth’s garden wasn’t so rosy. Ken Hogan’s side, down a host of key players since the year previous, shipped some heavy beatings in the Division One Hurling League.
Then, they took the decision to drop themselves down to the second tier. What an inspired decision it would prove to be.
After months of hard training, a host of tough and hard fought games, they’re reached their oyster. They’ll be back in the Fitzgibbon Cup next year after this 2-19 to 0-9 triumph.
It was a real Hogan show in Mallow, with the Lorrha family in Tipperary having a strong connection with this team.
Managed by father Ken, his son Brian was named man-of-the-match in the decider after a powerful display from centre back. Brian’s older brother Cian was the team’s coach, and he spoke to SportsJOE after the game.
More silverware coming back to @LorrhaGAA , well Done @CianHogan1 @BrianHogan8 pic.twitter.com/oy5ILvha6Y
— Michael Kennedy (@MichaelKenn94) February 24, 2018
“This means a lot to the lads. After those early season struggles, they just put the head down. They put in a huge effort in training. We always had good numbers showing up and you could just see there was something in these lads.”
Kilkenny’s Padraig Walsh was also instrumental in this victory, the Tullaroan club man scoring five from play from midfield.
“Padraig Walsh, that man was brilliant today, and he’s been brilliant all year. He’s such a leader in this team and all of the lads sort of feed off his drive,” said Hogan of his captain.
He’ll celebrate this one, with Brian Cody giving him the day off from Kilkenny duty on Sunday when they take on Tipperary.
That winning feeling 🏆#MUGAA @HigherEdGAA @MaynoothUni @Maynoothalumni @maynoothsu pic.twitter.com/uw5xVbdhIY
— Maynooth Uni GAA (@MaynoothUniGAA) February 24, 2018
“We’ll go back to Maynooth tonight to celebrate this one. Brian Cody deserves credit, too, he let Padraig off and told him to celebrate this one. That’ll mean a lot to the lads,” concluded Hogan.
Walsh, the Maynooth captain, spoke to Jerome Quinn Media after the game, and his pride at the victory was clear. Knowing Walsh, he’d probably the first man to put his hand up to play for Kilkenny on Sunday.
But while Brian Cody is famed for his ruthless tendencies, he appreciates how much a win means to a player and the celebrations are what it’s all about.
Instead of foam-rolling and eating pasta tonight, he’ll be soaking in this victory. If you can’t celebrate the victories, what are you doing it for at all?
Fair play to Cody for that. And fair play to Michael Ryan who has given his Tipperary stars John McGrath, Barry Heffernan and Jason Forde the day off after they won the Fitzgibbon Cup final with UL.
That’s how it should be.
