“A certain Clare man said we were a dying team”
While the cup was being presented what caught my eye was Man of the Match Dessie Hutchinson went to get his new born baby in the stand. Photos: Noel Browne
Man of the match Dessie Hutchinson smiled from ear to ear at the final whistle as Ballygunner once again climbed the steps at Semple Stadium to lift the Billy O’Neill Cup.
The forward was at his brilliant best, notching 0-7 from play and running Éire Óg Inis ragged throughout as he picked up his fourth Munster medal since returning from the professional soccer ranks in England. Successes of this kind will never be taken for granted.
“Today’s an unbelievable day”, said Hutchinson. “To get back here after the hurt of last year - it was our aim since day one to get back to a Munster final. To perform like we did, it’s just so special. We were so hurt last year, we probably didn’t say it enough. I’m so happy to have another Munster medal.”
Victory on Sunday made it five Munster Senior Club Hurling Championship titles in just seven years for Ballygunner - as they became the first club ever to win the provincial crown six times. Asked what keeps driving them back to the well, Hutchinson noted there are no shortage of motivating factors - especially certain comments from former players.
“It’s just lads wanting to make the best of their careers”, said Hutchinson. “Jason Ryan has come in this year and added something really fresh to us and that’s something that we needed. The foundation of what we were doing there today was built by Darragh O’Sullivan and David Franks.
“A certain Clare man [Anthony Daly] said we were a dying team this week - little things like that give you so much motivation. I don’t know if that’s trying to play us down or what, but that gives us huge motivation to go out and perform.”
While the All-Ireland semi-final will be played just four days out from Christmas, Hutchinson says there’s nowhere he and his teammates would rather be than on the pitch on December 21st.
“There’s no end to it - but that’s what you want”, said Hutchinson. “You want to have a Christmas where you’re looking forward to a game. It can make and break your Christmas too whichever way the game goes! Even just to give the supporters something to look forward to on the run up, it’s brilliant - we’ll be watching very closely to see who comes out of Leinster.”
