Sport

Benny Tierney: A good start these days is hard to knock

Flying starts by St Patrick’s, Maghera (above), Ballyboden St Enda’s and Na Piarsaigh all proved their making in the MacRory Cup and All-Ireland Club SFC and SHC finals respectively on St Patrick’s Day     
Flying starts by St Patrick’s, Maghera (above), Ballyboden St Enda’s and Na Piarsaigh all proved their making in the MacRory Cup and All-Ireland Club SFC and SHC finals respectively on St Patrick’s Day      Flying starts by St Patrick’s, Maghera (above), Ballyboden St Enda’s and Na Piarsaigh all proved their making in the MacRory Cup and All-Ireland Club SFC and SHC finals respectively on St Patrick’s Day     

WHEN you are trying to make the breakthrough in any sporting final, a positive beginning is so important because it fuels your mindset and quells any residue of negativity.

This new-found gradual optimism permeates the team and momentum and belief feeds off this feeling. It drives you on to achieve what many outside your panel would have doubted. When I went to St Colman’s, Newry, success was already evident and lined the corridors in successful team photos. 

There was an expectation to achieve which I had never felt before. So, when we got to finals of competitions, history and a sense of belief - which wasn’t arrogance might I add - was a great asset. I would compare it somewhat to the Cross mentality and, even though every final didn’t go our way, most of them did.

I hadn’t that luxury when I played for my college, club or county as every final then was met with the trepidation of ground that had never been ploughed before. And in all those games it was vital that we gained a foothold in the game early just to give yourself that opportunity to make a ground-breaking victory achievable at the finish.

I was very fortunate to have won a few finals in my career and, looking back at them, a positive start was absolutely pivotal. Even though there is an old saying stipulating that ‘it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish’ as witnessed on St Patrick’s Day, a game can be lost as easily in the first 15 minutes as the last 15.

In the MacRory Cup final at the Athletic Grounds, a highly-fancied Maghera team blitzed St Paul’s, Bessbrook at the beginning of the game. And although John Rafferty’s men more than lived with them for the rest of the encounter and made a gallant comeback from a horrendous opening quarter, the damage unfortunately had been done.

Congratulations go to St Patrick’s, Maghera who had to dig deep again without the mercurial Conor Glass on Wednesday in an attempt to reach the Hogan Cup final, a last minute penalty eventually seeing them through.

Having felt the disappointment for the south Armagh school, I quickly left the Athletic Grounds seeking another overdose of GAA action, hoping to catch live coverage of the second half of the hurling match and the entire football final in Croke Park.

The wife was somewhat exasperated at my plans for the rest of the day and asked about  the possibility of seeing a parade. She wasn’t too happy when I informed her that the players will parade around Croke Park before the games... But to be honest, St Patrick’s Day for any  GAA member is more about the MacRory Cup final and the club finals than drowning your shamrock - even better if you can manage to do both simultaneously.

Unfortunately for both Cushendall and Castlebar, their dreams of making that much-sought-after breakthrough were dashed in exactly the same manner as I had witnessed earlier in Armagh with a calamitous beginning proving to be both their downfalls.

Nobody will have felt this more acutely than the players involved, especially when you think of the journey that it takes to make an All-Ireland club final, only for it to end in abject disappointment after never quite hitting the heights of previous rounds.

Out of all the teams playing on St Patrick’s Day, I would have thought that the team most prepared for the beginning of the game would have been the Mayo outfit as they didn’t turn up for the first 20 minutes of their semi-final with Crossmaglen.

Had the south Armagh club had their shooting boots on in that first-half, the game would have been over. And yet Castlebar began in exactly the same manner against a rampant Ballyboden team who ended up worthy champions.

SPEAKING of Cross, I’m sure many of you tuned in to the BBC documentary True North, which examined the influence of the GAA in the renowned south Armagh village and its relationship with the British army, which occupied it for many years.

I thought the programme was hugely enjoyable, both from a footballing and a human perspective, as it explored so many contentious issues not solely related to sport. John McEntee, Oisin McConville, Jamie Clarke and my old mate Paul Hearty all spoke honestly, humorously and candidly about what the GAA has meant to them.

Yet the undoubted star of the show for me was Oisin’s mother Margaret, who came across with so much loyalty, empathy and genuine goodwill and, of course, the most important attribute - an ability to hand out cream buns to all the players before big games. I would have been her biggest fan.

In a week when women in sport have received some very negative publicity regarding inequality, Margaret summarised quite brilliantly what the GAA means to both men and women from all clubs and counties with a great quote which will resonate with so many: “If I didn’t have the GAA, I’d have nothing to look forward to. Sure, I mightn’t be here at all.”

AND finally, with holy week upon us, the question of whether Tyrone will show some Christian mercy to Armagh on Saturday night is very easily answered as Armagh fans must ask themselves what would we do if the shoe was on the other foot. 

And the answer would be, quite simply, to sink the boot in even further. Both teams lie at the opposite end of the table, and while a win is not needed by Micky Harte’s men, it would be greatly sought and savoured by Geezer (left) and his charges in Omagh. 

That said, the question of who will be making the drop to Division Three was always going to be decided in the last round of matches anyway. A good performance from Armagh without necessarily gaining the two points could leave them better off for the all-important final match against Derry.