SOME OF THESE outfits may be small, but they are home to star nesm who have reached the very pinnacle of the game with their county sides.
Here, we take a look at the clubs heading for Croke Park for this weekend’s All-Ireland junior and intermediate finals, and their most recognisable faces.
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Tullogher Rosbercon (Kilkenny)
Playing in a fetching retro-style of Kilkenny kit, Tullogher Rosbercon is the home of Walter Walsh.
His debut for Kilkenny came in the 2012 All Ireland final replay against Galway and he finished that game with 1-3 and the Man of the Match award. Now 32 years-old, the 6’ 7” teacher has three All-Ireland and seven Leinster medals with his county.
They won their sixth Junior title in Kilkenny and have dished out a 38-point whipping to Laois champions Colt Shanahoe and a 12-point win over Carrig & Riverstown of Offaly in the provincial final before blitzing Monaghan’s Castleblayney by 15 points in the semi-final.
St Catherine’s (Cork)
Located in east Cork, their most famous son is their current manager, Denis Walsh.
In 1981, he played in the county junior hurling final as they fell to Milford by a couple of points. Two years later they were back at the same stage and won. From then on, a steady climb up towards respectability peaked in 2004 when they reached senior status.
All the while, Walsh made his way onto Cork teams in both codes and won All-Ireland medals in hurling and football.
This is the third time he has managed his own club. He’s had a long and interesting managerial career, taking Waterford’s Ballygunner to two titles, becoming the Waterford football manager for two seasons, and was Cork hurling manager in a tricky period of 2009 and 2010.
Thomastown (Kilkenny)
This competition is virtually the preserve of Kilkenny clubs with seven different champions and three occasion when they finished runners-up.
Thomastown come from the same lineage and have John Donnelly, that absolute unit of a forward, leading their charge from centre-forward. In the All-Ireland semi-final against Donegal’s Setanta he scored 3-2.
He was ably assisted by Jonjo Farrell, by now a veteran of 35 summers with two All-Irelands in the memory bank, who helped himself to 0-4.
Castlelyons (Cork)
Losing the Cork Intermediate final in 2020 and 2021 was finally atoned by their first win at this level this year.
They were better road-tested on the way to this final and are coached by Noel Furlong, a former Cork selector under the Kieran Kingston ticket, and minor manager.
Current Cork senior Niall O’Leary is the lynchpin of the defence. Despite being just 25 he was often the eldest member of the Cork full-back line in the league last year.
Another colleague in defence is Colm Spillane who floated around the Cork panel for almost a decade.
Arva (Cavan)
The most high-profile player in their ranks is Ciaran ‘Holla’ Brady, who won an Ulster title with Cavan in 2020.
They are coached by Finbar O’Reilly, who played for Cavan for years, taking the free-taking and vice-captaincy duties.
Johnny McCabe also started against Armagh in the championship this year.
The most interesting one though is Tristan Noach Hofmann. The son of German vets, he played underage soccer for Ireland and with Bray Wanderers and Longford Town. He is now on the Cavan panel.
Hugh Hourican of the Boar’s Head is an Arva man, and is no stranger to the ÓSé clan, of which Marc will be managing the opposition in Listowel.
Listowel (Kerry)
While Enda Murphy is the manager, understandably a lot of the attention is focussed on their coach, a certain Marc ÓSé.
The spectacularly named Joe Joe Grimes is from Listowel, but he spent a few years in Clonakilty, and soon became a Cork footballer. He is now safely ensconced back among his own and playing midfield.
They have no end of players who made their bones on Kerry underage teams, most notably the joint-captain Niall Collins who picked up a couple of All-Irelands and operates around the centre-back spot.
Up front, Jack McElligott and Bryan Sweeney, both of whom wore the green and gold at underage, are worth a look.
Cullyhanna (Armagh)
Of all the teams in action this weekend, Cullyhanna have the largest current county representation. County joint-captain Aidan Nugent combines with Jason Duffy and Ross McQuillan to add a healthy dose of county quality to a club team at intermediate level.
Some might draw comparisons to the Moy team of the Cavanagh brothers and Philip Jordan who spent many years at Intermediate.
On the sideline, they have the current county selector and long-serving player, an All-Ireland U21 champion Ciaran McKeever offering his coaching nous.
Cill na Martra (Cork)
28 years after he managed Laune Rangers to the All-Ireland senior football title, the widely-travelled John Evans is back in another decider.
The retired Garda was largely responsible for the huge football revival in Tipperary under his watch, achieving promotions in 2008 and 2009 to jump from the basement league to division 2. He also brought the county U21s their first Munster title in 2009 when they beat Kerry in the final.
Since then he has managed Roscommon and Wicklow, and now he has fetched up in west Cork. His most high-profile players are Danno Dineen who plays as a forward for Cork and Tadgh Corkery.
