There's a huge buzz in the parish of Upperchurch Drombane at the moment

Upperchurch Drombane Chairman Michael Griffin and coach Andy Kinane were of the same view when the Tipperary Star caught up with them ahead of Sunday’s big game.

Both men, well versed in the arts of hurling and football, articulated the need for the club to drive on and continue the progress made over the last few season, starting with the county final on Sunday.

“When you start out the year you wonder where you will end up and you dream of ending up in county finals. We have had a fantastic journey so far and we are not finished yet with the senior football and the junior hurling too still to come,” Michael said.

In recent times the club has redeveloped the facilities at Drombane to include astro turf, floodlights and a walkway. These have proven to be a big advantage for training at this time of the year and now extra ground is required and an agreement has been reached to purchase adjoining land to provide another pitch - the club is currently selling tickets to raffle a John Deere tractor, and this initiative has been going very well according to Michael.

“The parish is behind us and will be there with us next weekend for the football too. They are really driving us on and when they see us making progress it helps. These are exciting times for us and we have a lot to look forward to,” Michael said.
Andy had been a soldier on the senior field of play for many years, but now his infleunce is outside the tramlines. And, the next week is another big one for the club as he explains.

“We’re disappointed to have lost the hurling, but we will rally again next weekend. We have a few tired bodies and heavy legs. The ground has gotten heavy in the last few weeks, but, we will have our stretching session upstairs in Drombane during the week and then get back to a bit of football before the final.

“It’s out first time in a county final so we roll on and enjoy the occasion. If we had been told at the start of the year that we’d end up in two county finals and a county semi-final, we’d have taken that, I’m sure. But we have to build on all that now going forward and that’s what we want to do. There is a lot going on in our club and we want to make sure that we continue to develop on and off the field - that’s very important, especially after we got a good run like we did this year. We have to continue building and we are looking forward to all that unfolding,” Andy said.

Clonmel Commercials provide the opposition on Sunday - a daunting task but one ‘The Church’ will relish.