Inside the clubhouse lies another mural. Rather than the club’s nine heroes to lift Liam MacCarthy, it commemorates their Tipperary senior winning captains.
Among them are giants of the game such as six-time captain Tom Semple, five-timer Jim Lanigan, and four-timer Pádraic Maher. Jimmy Doyle, the club’s most celebrated hurler, is among a clutch of players who twice lifted Dan Breen.
With Maher’s injury-enforced retirement diverting him into management and the club enduring a nine-year drought, only one current player perched on that wall until recently.
That was 2010 captain Paddy McCormack, who has since been joined by this year’s captain Conor Stakelum and back-to-back camogie champion Emer Kennedy. In all, 23 portraits cover their 39 county titles across both codes.
The Thurles Sarsfields Wall of Winning Captains in all its glory https://t.co/r2vtUboa6O
Now 42 and in his 26th season of senior hurling, McCormack continues as an ever-present figure between the Sarsfields posts.
Last month, he togged out for his 19th county final and started his 15th (including replayed deciders). Only Mickey ‘The Rattler’ Byrne has played in more Tipp finals, with 17.
McCormack ended the day with his ninth medal. Yet speaking after the game, he felt the presence of those icons on the clubhouse wall put his achievement in context.
“It’s not something that I’ve thought about too much,” he said. “We have a great history in Thurles Sarsfields. Mickey Byrne has 14. Jimmy Doyle has 10 or 11. Denis (Maher) is up to eight now. Pa Bourke…
“Having nine, it’s not a big deal. But it is nice getting one in the pocket after nine years.
“It’s probably better (than the first). It’s been nine long years and for the older lads in the team, we probably thought about giving it up at different stages – we’re at that age – so glad that we stuck at it.”
****
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Putting in a lifetime of service isn’t a new thing in the McCormack clan.
Before chatting after the county final, Paddy junior first had to reunite the cup with his father, Paddy senior, who coaches the team, for a photograph.
Paddy McCormack senior during his time as Tipperary camogie manager in 2005. Lorraine O'Sullivan / INPHO
Lorraine O'Sullivan / INPHO / INPHO
While still a minor, Paddy senior collected a county medal as a Sars panellist for the 1974 triumph, which would prove their last for 31 years. He soldiered away over those decades, appearing in the number one jersey in the 1979 and 1992 county final defeats.
Since 2000, McCormack senior has coached Sars to 12 county finals, winning seven. In 2015, he even coached Sars’ second team in the intermediate final before leading the seniors to victory in the headline act.
Paddy junior is no stranger to doubling up. His first county final involvement was in 2000, playing in the curtain-raising minor final victory before sitting on the bench for the senior defeat. He fulfilled the same role the following two seasons before breaking into the marquee team in 2003 as Sars endured a fourth successive defeat.
Those defeats turned to triumph in 2005, followed by a glorious spell of seven titles in nine years from 2009 to 2017.
Paddy McCormack lifts the Dan Breen Cup in 2010. Cathal Noonan / INPHO
Cathal Noonan / INPHO / INPHO
McCormack has been a rock-solid performer in those years, known for his shot-stopping, puck-outs, and even netting the odd penalty.
Father and son have been involved in some notable underage Tipp teams too. Paddy junior captained the Premier to a 2002 Munster minor final before losing to a ‘Cha’ Fitzpatrick-inspired Kilkenny in the All-Ireland final. Paddy senior was manager that year.
Paddy junior went on to win a Munster U21 in 2004 before losing to Kilkenny in another Croke Park final.
In Sars, the family inheritance continues with his first cousin, Michael McCormack, now the sub-keeper.
Side by side, then and now 💙🫡
First cousins Michael and Paddy McCormack pictured yesterday, and back in 2010 when Paddy was captain, with young Michael standing firm beside him.
Sixteen years on, still shoulder to shoulder 💙 https://t.co/6oTDv30wll
These days, Paddy junior isn’t just stopping the shots and keeping the ball pucked out. Like his father, he’s also honing the next generation of talent through his coaching in Thurles CBS, where he’s a maths and business teacher.
When they played Moycarkey-Borris in the Tipp final last month, McCormack hadn’t just worked with an entire generation of Thurles talents; he’d also taught 14 of the 15 Moycarkey players.
He’s the one link through Sars’ nine Munster campaigns this century, while Denis Maher and Aidan McCormack are the only two other members of their 2012 provincial title-winners still starting.
Their only Munster victory since then came against Ballygunner in 2016, although their two subsequent defeats were after extra-time against Ballyea that year and the Gunners the following season.
“I’ve been lucky down through the years that I’ve played in front of some of the best defenders the county has seen,” McCormack reflected. “Pádraic, Ronan, Denis (Maher), Conor Stakelum has slotted in there seamlessly, so it makes my job easier.
“I puck out the ball and try and keep the odd one out. That’s my job.”
Captain Stakelum gave McCormack a little more billing in the build-up to the county final.
“He’s a student of the game,” he told TippFM. “He’s always still learning and wanting to improve, even at Paddy’s age, he won’t mind me saying that!
“He’s just brilliant. He has a real calm head and he has so much experience, but Paddy trains really hard. He’s one of the first ones up and last to leave.”
Thurles Sarsfields manager Pádraic Maher gives instructions to his younger brother Ronan during the Tipperary senior hurling final last month. Tom Maher / INPHO
Tom Maher / INPHO / INPHO
McCormack is always happier to share the praise around.
Pádraic Maher, whose mother Helen is Paddy senior’s sister, is another first cousin. Paddy junior once said they “eat, sleep, and drink hurling” in the McCormack house, and Pádraic would’ve been part of those games growing up.
“You’d love to have him playing centre-back or full-back or anywhere on the field,” said McCormack of his cousin, “but Pádraic’s a serious operator.
“He’s as good a manager as he was a player, so he’s a big future ahead of him in management as well. We’re so glad that he got involved with us four years ago.”
And they’re glad for McCormack’s 26 years of service. And counting.
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Thurles Sarsfields goalie McCormack back in Munster amid 26th year of senior hurling
THE THURLES SARSFIELDS clubhouse is famous for its wall of All-Ireland-winning Tipperary captains that lines the walk to Semple Stadium.
Inside the clubhouse lies another mural. Rather than the club’s nine heroes to lift Liam MacCarthy, it commemorates their Tipperary senior winning captains.
Among them are giants of the game such as six-time captain Tom Semple, five-timer Jim Lanigan, and four-timer Pádraic Maher. Jimmy Doyle, the club’s most celebrated hurler, is among a clutch of players who twice lifted Dan Breen.
With Maher’s injury-enforced retirement diverting him into management and the club enduring a nine-year drought, only one current player perched on that wall until recently.
That was 2010 captain Paddy McCormack, who has since been joined by this year’s captain Conor Stakelum and back-to-back camogie champion Emer Kennedy. In all, 23 portraits cover their 39 county titles across both codes.
****
Now 42 and in his 26th season of senior hurling, McCormack continues as an ever-present figure between the Sarsfields posts.
Last month, he togged out for his 19th county final and started his 15th (including replayed deciders). Only Mickey ‘The Rattler’ Byrne has played in more Tipp finals, with 17.
McCormack ended the day with his ninth medal. Yet speaking after the game, he felt the presence of those icons on the clubhouse wall put his achievement in context.
“It’s not something that I’ve thought about too much,” he said. “We have a great history in Thurles Sarsfields. Mickey Byrne has 14. Jimmy Doyle has 10 or 11. Denis (Maher) is up to eight now. Pa Bourke…
“Having nine, it’s not a big deal. But it is nice getting one in the pocket after nine years.
****
Putting in a lifetime of service isn’t a new thing in the McCormack clan.
Before chatting after the county final, Paddy junior first had to reunite the cup with his father, Paddy senior, who coaches the team, for a photograph.
While still a minor, Paddy senior collected a county medal as a Sars panellist for the 1974 triumph, which would prove their last for 31 years. He soldiered away over those decades, appearing in the number one jersey in the 1979 and 1992 county final defeats.
Since 2000, McCormack senior has coached Sars to 12 county finals, winning seven. In 2015, he even coached Sars’ second team in the intermediate final before leading the seniors to victory in the headline act.
Paddy junior is no stranger to doubling up. His first county final involvement was in 2000, playing in the curtain-raising minor final victory before sitting on the bench for the senior defeat. He fulfilled the same role the following two seasons before breaking into the marquee team in 2003 as Sars endured a fourth successive defeat.
Those defeats turned to triumph in 2005, followed by a glorious spell of seven titles in nine years from 2009 to 2017.
McCormack has been a rock-solid performer in those years, known for his shot-stopping, puck-outs, and even netting the odd penalty.
Father and son have been involved in some notable underage Tipp teams too. Paddy junior captained the Premier to a 2002 Munster minor final before losing to a ‘Cha’ Fitzpatrick-inspired Kilkenny in the All-Ireland final. Paddy senior was manager that year.
Paddy junior went on to win a Munster U21 in 2004 before losing to Kilkenny in another Croke Park final.
In Sars, the family inheritance continues with his first cousin, Michael McCormack, now the sub-keeper.
****
These days, Paddy junior isn’t just stopping the shots and keeping the ball pucked out. Like his father, he’s also honing the next generation of talent through his coaching in Thurles CBS, where he’s a maths and business teacher.
When they played Moycarkey-Borris in the Tipp final last month, McCormack hadn’t just worked with an entire generation of Thurles talents; he’d also taught 14 of the 15 Moycarkey players.
He’s the one link through Sars’ nine Munster campaigns this century, while Denis Maher and Aidan McCormack are the only two other members of their 2012 provincial title-winners still starting.
Their only Munster victory since then came against Ballygunner in 2016, although their two subsequent defeats were after extra-time against Ballyea that year and the Gunners the following season.
“I’ve been lucky down through the years that I’ve played in front of some of the best defenders the county has seen,” McCormack reflected. “Pádraic, Ronan, Denis (Maher), Conor Stakelum has slotted in there seamlessly, so it makes my job easier.
Captain Stakelum gave McCormack a little more billing in the build-up to the county final.
“He’s a student of the game,” he told TippFM. “He’s always still learning and wanting to improve, even at Paddy’s age, he won’t mind me saying that!
“He’s just brilliant. He has a real calm head and he has so much experience, but Paddy trains really hard. He’s one of the first ones up and last to leave.”
McCormack is always happier to share the praise around.
Pádraic Maher, whose mother Helen is Paddy senior’s sister, is another first cousin. Paddy junior once said they “eat, sleep, and drink hurling” in the McCormack house, and Pádraic would’ve been part of those games growing up.
“You’d love to have him playing centre-back or full-back or anywhere on the field,” said McCormack of his cousin, “but Pádraic’s a serious operator.
“He’s as good a manager as he was a player, so he’s a big future ahead of him in management as well. We’re so glad that he got involved with us four years ago.”
And they’re glad for McCormack’s 26 years of service. And counting.
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GAA Hurling last man standing Munster Club SHC Munster GAA Thurles Sarsfields Tipperary GAA Tipperary SHC