Kiladangan's Alan Flynn delighted to be back in with a chance of winning Dan Breen

Growing up as a young budding hurler in Kiladangan, Tipperary hurler and club talisman Alan Flynn couldn’t have dreamed that he would be contesting another county senior final with the chance to claim his second Dan Breen medal, but that is what lies ahead for the Kiladangan centre back.

“You still never really get used to them as we would never have grown up looking at senior county finals as the club wasn’t successful when we were younger, so every time we get to one it is an unbelievable achievement,” he acknowledged.

“We are delighted to be back here again, last year we lost the semi-final and it was hard to take. 

“It is different every year as you have got to prepare for it as it is a different game again. I don’t think there is much of an advantage of being there before, as it is different every year.

“Once 2008 came around and we won our first North final it started rolling from there. We have been there or thereabouts in relation to North finals and we kept developing and winning those North Championships was excellent to build a foundation.

“Luckily a group of players came together in different eras and we got there eventually.

He continued, “It started with Joe Gallagher’s team, they would have won a 16 ‘A’ North final but lost a county final and contested minor ‘A’ finals. Our group came then and competed in a minor ‘A’ final and lost again but eventually we broke through with that team with myself, Paul Flynn, Tadhg Gallagher, David Sweeney, Willie Connors, and won an under 21 ‘A’ North final.

“James Quigley, Billy Seymour, Bryan McLoughney, Sean Hayes all came in behind us as our core group started getting stronger and stronger and one or two more every year.”

This will be Flynn’s and Kiladangan’s fourth final appearance in six years, and while he acknowledges the success the club has achieved in the last decade, many involved over the years have lamented lost opportunities in 2016 and 2019 when they were close to the promised land initially.

“Darragh Egan spoke to us that week, and he was still playing at the time, and he said to us, it’s just process driven,” Flynn remarked.

“We hadn’t hurled well in a final in ‘16 and ‘19 so the main objective against Loughmore was to hurl well and we did. 

“We didn’t start well and conceded three goals but for the majority of the game we hurled well but hit an awful lot of wides. 

“Throughout that game I felt we were at the level to win a county championship and luckily enough we did get the break at the end of it.”

The 2022 campaign has been far from vintage from the Kiladangan squad, who have on very few occasions reached the levels associated with the quality they have shown in the past, and indeed, with the calibre of players they have to choose from.

“We knew we weren’t hurling well,” Flynn admitted.

“We played Loughmore, both teams were fairly depleted on the evening and both were happy to come out with a draw. We then played Annacarty and everyone knows Annacarty are not easy to beat and we eventually pulled away to win well, and then beat a good Brackens team who could easily have been in the semi-final.

“So, we were beating good teams but not hurling particularly well. The Clonoulty match, we weren’t brilliant that day and we got over the line, and it was an excellent battle the last day against a good Drom & Inch side.

“We have been improving but we understood that but were still getting frustrated with ourselves that we weren’t producing our best stuff. It’s all about getting the wins and we are back in a county final where there is a lot to improve on and we have had time to prepare for that,” he finished.