'I swear to God, I was 10 foot tall' - Tommy Dunne recalls Tipp's 'bridging' All-Ireland
Ten seasons after entering a bear pit of a dressing room, Tommy Dunne turned in a season that brought all three Hurler of the Year Awards as they won Liam MacCarthy.
BY THE TIME he had the Liam MacCarthy Cup lifted, it was the pinnacle of a long climb for Tipperary captain Tommy Dunne, 25 years ago when Tipp won the All-Ireland.
He was always going to make it, but his starring role in Toomevara’s county title in 1992, when they beat Thurles Sarsfields in a replay to bridge a gap back to 1962, brought him straight into Babs Keating’s panel.
Success with Tipp took longer. By the time it arrived with the All-Ireland in 2001, it acted as a bridging title from 1991 to 2010. It stopped the sort of drought that Cork are currently experiencing.
Beating Galway in that final came as a sweet relief to Dunne, almost a decade after walking into a dressing room full of All-Ireland winners and having to make his own way through tough love.
“I remember after the match that I felt very relieved what I had accomplished, for myself, as a hurler. If I had finished without an All-Ireland as a hurler, I would have been devastated. Devastated,” says Dunne now.
“I am sure I would have got over it and moved on and been happy with what I had. But I know I would have been devastated and it was that important to me. It was how I measured myself, really.”
Even in a county as sure of itself as Tipperary, he admits to a small bit of imposter syndrome.
“It took me a long time to believe in myself that I could captain Tipp to an All-Ireland. I found one of the hardest things I had to do was to convince myself that I was a good captain and that I would be a good enough captain to win an All-Ireland with Tipp.
“That took a lot of time and I didn’t really believe it until it happened, if I am being honest,” he admits.
His uncertainty was centred around his own form.
Tipperary went right through from pre-season into the 2001 National League final against Clare, a game four weeks before the same two meeting in the Munster championship semi-final.
They played 17 games in that campaign, recording one draw against Kilkenny in Nowlan Park during the league, and 16 wins.
But towards the end of the league campaign, Dunne felt unsure of his place and could feel John Leahy breathing down his neck for a starting berth. Dunne had played with manager Nicky English, but Leahy had more history with him.
“I wasn’t playing that well. I was playing okay. Just a 6/10. Perhaps touching a 7. But no more than that. I was doing enough. But I was struggling with form,” he says.
At a billboard in Toomevara. INPHO
INPHO
An article appeared in The Irish Independent, noting that Leahy had returned to full fitness and was battling for his place. It fed a bit of paranoia for Dunne.
“In those days, the 15 was settled. There were very few changes from game to game unless there was an injury or a fairly dramatic loss of form.
“That’s why the thing was magnified a little bit. There was a concern for me that, ‘Hold on a second. It might be the case that I could be dropped here.’”
In the gaps between league and championship, he had to go all-out in training, despite the niggle of a hamstring getting tighter.
In an in-house game in Semple Stadium, English decided on a crude test and paired Dunne with Leahy. Both knew what was at play.
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“I made it my business to make a statement. I think I did make a statement and enough of one that he pulled me from the game just after the break in the game,” he said.
“He pulled me and I knew at that stage that I had it put to bed. I didn’t look back after that then.”
Accolades
A two-time All-Star before that year, Dunne walked away from the winter as the Hurler of the Year for the All-Star, Texaco, and GPA award schemes.
Of all their All-Ireland successes, there is something unique about 2001, coming as it did ten years after their last and nine years prior to their next, in 2010.
When Dunne came into the team in November 1992, a great number of the 1991 All-Ireland team were still in their prime, including English himself, Michael Cleary, Pat Fox, Declan Ryan, John Leahy and the Bonner brothers.
“I was completely in awe of the whole environment and Babs was still the manager. These were household names in the national sport and I was the rookie, gob-smacked. It took a long time for me to feel okay in the place,” said Dunne.
“I was never made feel unwelcome but you knew you were an apprentice and you were going to have to do something fairly special to become established right away.”
While he wouldn’t describe it as a closed house, it did inform how he would treat county hopefuls in his many coaching roles.
“I always got the sense they wanted me to develop and become a Tipperary player. [But] It wasn’t said like that. Babs didn’t have to call on me at all.
“I was always very conscious then in whatever team I was involved in as a coach or a manager, that any young lad coming through the door, was made feel part of it and made feel that he could make a difference very quickly, rather than seeing him as a long-term thing.”
Dunne as Tipperary coach alongside manager and former team mate Declan Ryan, in 2012. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
“We always tried to understand what our aspirations were for him, to make sure they were aligned with his.”
When English took over, he put a premium on team preparation across the board. His former teammate Ken Hogan was an instructor in the Templemore Garda College and brought an attitude of total compliance towards strength and conditioning.
With that, came an inner belief as a player that Dunne admits he was always chasing.
The game
He started the final well, opening the scoring in the third minute from wide left outfield. Tipp opened up a gap which Mark O’Leary widened further with the first goal of the day on 20 minutes.
The second half started well too, with O’Leary getting his second goal with a sort of a rolling maul all the way to the net.
But those details pale when compared with the state of the pitch.
“If you go back and look at the video, it was absolutely atrocious, terrible,” recalls Dunne.
“And that’s a shame that’s the way it was. The sod was terrible, it was off-colour and there were sods turning up everywhere. There were bumps on the pitch, it was appalling.”
Tipp never could quite shake off Galway. At times, they looked poised, such as when Declan Ryan almost took the head off an umpire behind the goals with a rocket sent just wide of the post.
A Fergal Healy goal when he hit top bins from almost the end line kept Galway right in it at the end, but it finished 2-18 to 2-15.
As captain, the honour fell to Dunne to lift Liam. The role suited him and he is honest enough to say that he still is filled with pride by it.
“I loved it. I absolutely loved leading that team and it never impeded me in any shape or form,” he says.
“I loved when people would call me it. Be it a journalist or anyone out on the street. I loved being the leader and I still do!”
Dunne up against David Tierney of Galway in the All-Ireland final. INPHO
INPHO
The All-Ireland winning celebrations were different. Two days after they won, the Twin Towers in New York were attacked.
Around that time, Dunne was sitting in a departure lounge of Shannon Airport. He was leaving his then girlfriend, now wife Deirdre, for her flight back to JFK, as she was working in Manhattan in finance.
There was a sudden announcement, the monitors were turned on and they could see the aftermath of the first plane hitting the towers. As they sat there digesting the news, they watched the second plane crash.
Deirdre knew some of the firefighters on the rescue mission. Her own apartment was destroyed.
All flights were cancelled. They waited for their bags, got into the car and drove home in stunned silence.
“That was on the Tuesday. We couldn’t face celebrations after it,” said Dunne.
“My house was mental so I went back to Deirdre’s house and went to bed, got up the following day and didn’t know what we were doing really.
“The GOAL match was on the Wednesday night in Semple, that went ahead and I remember that was my first night since the All-Ireland that I wanted a few drinks.
“I know it is a small thing in such a tragedy, but it impacted a lot of the joy that would have been naturally around a county following an All-Ireland.”
The day of this year’s All-Ireland final, it all came home to him.
It vexes some that the Jubilee Team of 25 years ago are not brought out at half-time of the senior final, and Dunne might prefer that alright, but nothing could spoil the efforts the GAA and President Jarlath Burns made with that team.
They went up on the Saturday afternoon and met informally as a group for dinner and drinks.
The following day they showed up in their suits bought at their own expense.
“A lovely function in Croke Park. The Uachtarán was there and he gave an outstanding address, his words were absolutely outstanding, very personal and it hit all the right notes.
“He mentioned the significance of Brian O’Meara and how disappointing it must have been for him and it just meant the world to us.”
Tommy Dunne leads the Tipperary Jubilee team out at this year's All-Ireland final. Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
When the time came, the Tipperary team lined up in the tunnel to make their entrance. At the top of the procession stood Dunne.
“They handed me the cup and I looked around and saw all the boys behind me. I swear to God, I was ten foot tall,” he says.
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'I swear to God, I was 10 foot tall' - Tommy Dunne recalls Tipp's 'bridging' All-Ireland
BY THE TIME he had the Liam MacCarthy Cup lifted, it was the pinnacle of a long climb for Tipperary captain Tommy Dunne, 25 years ago when Tipp won the All-Ireland.
He was always going to make it, but his starring role in Toomevara’s county title in 1992, when they beat Thurles Sarsfields in a replay to bridge a gap back to 1962, brought him straight into Babs Keating’s panel.
Success with Tipp took longer. By the time it arrived with the All-Ireland in 2001, it acted as a bridging title from 1991 to 2010. It stopped the sort of drought that Cork are currently experiencing.
Beating Galway in that final came as a sweet relief to Dunne, almost a decade after walking into a dressing room full of All-Ireland winners and having to make his own way through tough love.
“I remember after the match that I felt very relieved what I had accomplished, for myself, as a hurler. If I had finished without an All-Ireland as a hurler, I would have been devastated. Devastated,” says Dunne now.
“I am sure I would have got over it and moved on and been happy with what I had. But I know I would have been devastated and it was that important to me. It was how I measured myself, really.”
Even in a county as sure of itself as Tipperary, he admits to a small bit of imposter syndrome.
“It took me a long time to believe in myself that I could captain Tipp to an All-Ireland. I found one of the hardest things I had to do was to convince myself that I was a good captain and that I would be a good enough captain to win an All-Ireland with Tipp.
“That took a lot of time and I didn’t really believe it until it happened, if I am being honest,” he admits.
His uncertainty was centred around his own form.
Tipperary went right through from pre-season into the 2001 National League final against Clare, a game four weeks before the same two meeting in the Munster championship semi-final.
They played 17 games in that campaign, recording one draw against Kilkenny in Nowlan Park during the league, and 16 wins.
But towards the end of the league campaign, Dunne felt unsure of his place and could feel John Leahy breathing down his neck for a starting berth. Dunne had played with manager Nicky English, but Leahy had more history with him.
“I wasn’t playing that well. I was playing okay. Just a 6/10. Perhaps touching a 7. But no more than that. I was doing enough. But I was struggling with form,” he says.
An article appeared in The Irish Independent, noting that Leahy had returned to full fitness and was battling for his place. It fed a bit of paranoia for Dunne.
“In those days, the 15 was settled. There were very few changes from game to game unless there was an injury or a fairly dramatic loss of form.
“That’s why the thing was magnified a little bit. There was a concern for me that, ‘Hold on a second. It might be the case that I could be dropped here.’”
In the gaps between league and championship, he had to go all-out in training, despite the niggle of a hamstring getting tighter.
In an in-house game in Semple Stadium, English decided on a crude test and paired Dunne with Leahy. Both knew what was at play.
“I made it my business to make a statement. I think I did make a statement and enough of one that he pulled me from the game just after the break in the game,” he said.
“He pulled me and I knew at that stage that I had it put to bed. I didn’t look back after that then.”
Accolades
A two-time All-Star before that year, Dunne walked away from the winter as the Hurler of the Year for the All-Star, Texaco, and GPA award schemes.
Of all their All-Ireland successes, there is something unique about 2001, coming as it did ten years after their last and nine years prior to their next, in 2010.
When Dunne came into the team in November 1992, a great number of the 1991 All-Ireland team were still in their prime, including English himself, Michael Cleary, Pat Fox, Declan Ryan, John Leahy and the Bonner brothers.
“I was completely in awe of the whole environment and Babs was still the manager. These were household names in the national sport and I was the rookie, gob-smacked. It took a long time for me to feel okay in the place,” said Dunne.
“I was never made feel unwelcome but you knew you were an apprentice and you were going to have to do something fairly special to become established right away.”
While he wouldn’t describe it as a closed house, it did inform how he would treat county hopefuls in his many coaching roles.
“I always got the sense they wanted me to develop and become a Tipperary player. [But] It wasn’t said like that. Babs didn’t have to call on me at all.
“I was always very conscious then in whatever team I was involved in as a coach or a manager, that any young lad coming through the door, was made feel part of it and made feel that he could make a difference very quickly, rather than seeing him as a long-term thing.”
“We always tried to understand what our aspirations were for him, to make sure they were aligned with his.”
When English took over, he put a premium on team preparation across the board. His former teammate Ken Hogan was an instructor in the Templemore Garda College and brought an attitude of total compliance towards strength and conditioning.
With that, came an inner belief as a player that Dunne admits he was always chasing.
The game
He started the final well, opening the scoring in the third minute from wide left outfield. Tipp opened up a gap which Mark O’Leary widened further with the first goal of the day on 20 minutes.
The second half started well too, with O’Leary getting his second goal with a sort of a rolling maul all the way to the net.
But those details pale when compared with the state of the pitch.
“And that’s a shame that’s the way it was. The sod was terrible, it was off-colour and there were sods turning up everywhere. There were bumps on the pitch, it was appalling.”
Tipp never could quite shake off Galway. At times, they looked poised, such as when Declan Ryan almost took the head off an umpire behind the goals with a rocket sent just wide of the post.
A Fergal Healy goal when he hit top bins from almost the end line kept Galway right in it at the end, but it finished 2-18 to 2-15.
As captain, the honour fell to Dunne to lift Liam. The role suited him and he is honest enough to say that he still is filled with pride by it.
“I loved it. I absolutely loved leading that team and it never impeded me in any shape or form,” he says.
“I loved when people would call me it. Be it a journalist or anyone out on the street. I loved being the leader and I still do!”
The All-Ireland winning celebrations were different. Two days after they won, the Twin Towers in New York were attacked.
Around that time, Dunne was sitting in a departure lounge of Shannon Airport. He was leaving his then girlfriend, now wife Deirdre, for her flight back to JFK, as she was working in Manhattan in finance.
There was a sudden announcement, the monitors were turned on and they could see the aftermath of the first plane hitting the towers. As they sat there digesting the news, they watched the second plane crash.
Deirdre knew some of the firefighters on the rescue mission. Her own apartment was destroyed.
All flights were cancelled. They waited for their bags, got into the car and drove home in stunned silence.
“My house was mental so I went back to Deirdre’s house and went to bed, got up the following day and didn’t know what we were doing really.
“The GOAL match was on the Wednesday night in Semple, that went ahead and I remember that was my first night since the All-Ireland that I wanted a few drinks.
“I know it is a small thing in such a tragedy, but it impacted a lot of the joy that would have been naturally around a county following an All-Ireland.”
The day of this year’s All-Ireland final, it all came home to him.
It vexes some that the Jubilee Team of 25 years ago are not brought out at half-time of the senior final, and Dunne might prefer that alright, but nothing could spoil the efforts the GAA and President Jarlath Burns made with that team.
They went up on the Saturday afternoon and met informally as a group for dinner and drinks.
The following day they showed up in their suits bought at their own expense.
“A lovely function in Croke Park. The Uachtarán was there and he gave an outstanding address, his words were absolutely outstanding, very personal and it hit all the right notes.
“He mentioned the significance of Brian O’Meara and how disappointing it must have been for him and it just meant the world to us.”
When the time came, the Tipperary team lined up in the tunnel to make their entrance. At the top of the procession stood Dunne.
“They handed me the cup and I looked around and saw all the boys behind me. I swear to God, I was ten foot tall,” he says.
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