Tulla GAA Club

Article Index Tulla GAA Club Officers 2010 Season 2010 Minors Lotto Results The Minor Club 2007 Under 14 Ceiliuradh 2007 Hurlers nags and bookies! 2007 Munster club win Page 9 of 10 Hurlers, nags and bookies! Like every other walk of life, the GAA is enriched with tales of local legend and intriguing myth. One such story emanating from the Windswept Hill in the wake of the 2007 County final victory is of the Tulla native who enquired of his local team’s odds before the commencement of the hurling championship. He was told that the odds were 40-1 but the bookie added that as Tulla were rated so poorly, another ‘0’ could be added to that! Instead, he put his money on a nag from Aiden O’Brien’s stable. Unlike Tulla, the nag had form behind him. Having failed to make the knockout stages in 2006 and then been thrown out (unfairly) from the 2006 ‘B’ championship, Tulla were not exactly lighting up the night skies. The Clare Cup campaign of 2007 ended with relegation to Division 2 along with 2006 Championship winners Wolfe Tones. Some form there! So what happened in Tulla in 2007?  In essence, the seeds of were sown with a one-point win over Sixmilebridge in the Clare Cup in late April. They were asked for a performance and delivered, with the added bonus of a win. Tulla opened their championship one month later with a draw against Crusheen and from here on the team seemed to grow. A hard fought challenge game against Burgess on a rain soaked evening showed the management that these lads also had the stomach for battle. The two-week holiday from hurling in July also helped rest bodies and minds for the battles that lay ahead. Ogonnolloe were defeated in mid-August and Killaloe turned the tables on Tulla two weeks later in a game of irrelevance, which duly became very relevant. It has been claimed that Tulla trained hard leading up to this game but herein lies another myth. The preparation was the same as for every other game. Smith O’Briens were simply the better team. Occasionally, in sport, the better team often wins! Scariff in Cusack Park was Tulla’s El Alamein. Win and the year has been a success. Lose and the black hole appears. Victory against Scariff and a gruelling training session on a rain-soaked beach the following morning prepared the minds and bodies for the remaining assignments. In a sense, the quarter-final against Newmarket and semi-final against Clarecastle were quite similar. Tulla were underdogs playing against raging hot favourites. In both games, the Tulla lads were in and out of Ennis before anyone knew what had happened. Crusheen dismissed the ‘Bridge in their semi-final and a wonderful hype engulfed both villages. It is hard to know if players on either side were affected by the trappings. Maybe some were, perhaps others were not. Lady luck played her part in Tulla’s final victory but it was only a cameo role. There was no luck in deservedly reaching the final and certainly no luck regarding injuries in the final. So the Canon Hamilton resides in Tulla where he was greeted on 21st October by the Tulla Pipe Band, bonfires, half of East Clare and a rendition of “A Lament for Tommy Daly”. The celebrations exceeded all expectations and the magnitude of what has happened might sink in when the Munster sojourn concludes. The trip to Lixnaw in Kerry proved easier than expected with three early goals sealing the win. At the time of writing Tulla are getting ready to face Ballyduff Upper in the Munster Semi-final. The odds of Tulla winning Munster are 9-1. Sure, they may as well be 90. By the way, O’Brien’s thoroughbred won by a nose. Karl Quinn / Tulla GAA Club  << Prev - Next >>