COLIN O’RIORDAN WAS not named to start in the Munster U21 football final when Tipperary announced their team on Wednesday night.
The captain’s availability had been in doubt since he suffered an injury in a league game for the county’s senior side against Sligo last Sunday week.
But he held a fierce desire to line out and he was a late inclusion to the starting team before last night’s EirGrid Munster U21 decider in Semple Stadium.
O’Riordan helped shape a night of glory for Tipperary as he chipped in with 0-2 as they saw off Cork to clinch what was only the county’s second ever provincial crown.
“It was in doubt (his participation), more so in doubt in other people’s heads than my head,” O’Riordan told The42 after the game.
“I knew I was never going to miss it. I felt good today, they wouldn’t have let me play if I didn’t feel good. I was happy to play. It was up to the last minute that the news broke and I was happy enough to start when they asked me to.”
Tipperary’s strong start to the game laid the foundations for their win and the team’s character shone through in the second-half.
“They were coming into our stadium, our ground and we wanted to lay down a marker,” stated O’Riordan. “It’s not easy travelling and we know that from last year. They travelled and we sort of said, we were going to let down a marker early.”
“I was reading stuff there that we’d five forwards missing from the minor team (2011 All-Ireland winners). They’re massive losses. But it just shows the whole character of the team we have here. They’re an unbelievable bunch of lads.
“I think with the five lads we’d missing from the minor, we’d five more that were equally as good to replace them. They’re just a super bunch of lads, I can’t have anything but praise for them.”
Victory saw Tipperary learn the lessons from last year’s final loss to Cork with O’Riordan’s two points in the final quarter proving vital.
“The ball breaks to you, you just throw it over the bar. Right place, right time. I think Ogie Moran said the other night, he was the luckiest man in Ireland, I felt the luckiest man there tonight.
“Micky McGeehan and Tommy Twomey were telling us to just stay in the game. That’s all we tried to do. Last year we were blown out of it in the first-half. This year we just tried to stay in the game and it went our way.”
“(The) last kick of the ball there, I thought they were going for the white flag and my head was in my hands. I can’t describe it. It’s unreal though. To be honest I think we were the better team on the day but credit to Cork, they’re a savage bunch and they kept going.”
And Tipperary’s campaign isn’t over with the next assignment looming as they’ll take on Dublin at the All-Ireland semi-final stage on 18 April.
“We’ll celebrate this tonight,” revealed O’Riordan. “We’re back in the pool Saturday morning, training Sunday morning and we’ll drive it on from there. Dublin on Saturday week, we’ll cross that hurdle when it comes, hopefully we’ll give them a rattle.”
