Former Tipperary hero happy to juggle hurling and rugby life in 'the Monastery'

THE recruitment of former Tipperary hurling star Tommy Dunne as coach showed that Cistercian College, Roscrea's commitment to hurling transcends lip service and a fortunate sequence of events led to him coming on board three years ago.

One of the best midfielders in the country during his playing career in the 1990s into the 2000s, Dunne is a proud Toomevara man and went to Our Lady's Secondary School in nearby Templemore himself.

As his son, Theo, approached secondary school age, Dunne assessed the various options. Our Lady's was an automatic consideration as was St Joseph's College in Borrisoleigh, where many of his Gurtagarry National School colleagues were destined for.

They attended an open night at Cistercian College and were instantly attracted by the school: its environment, reputation and tradition. A self employed man, Tommy's work carries him to Dublin, Athlone, Galway and other places regularly while his wife commutes by train to Dublin and Cistercian College was not an inconvenience to them, though Theo did require a bit of persuasion not to follow the majority to Borrisoleigh.

“He is mad into sport. They have a brilliant golf academy here with Bobby King. He has golf, he has hurling. He is playing rugby, they have a lovely swimming pool here, ball alleys, an astro turf. For a young lad interested in sport, it is a fantastic place to be,” Dunne said before adding the important rider that the academic side is also “fantastic”.

As captain of the Tipperary side that won the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship in 2001 and a three time All-Star, Dunne's presence at that open night soon became known to some of the staff there and it was from this that the approach was made to become their hurling coach while his son duly enrolled. In particular, the Director of Sport in Cistercian, Brendan McKeogh made a beeline for him – McKeogh is very involved in Ballina GAA Club, down towards the Limerick border in Tipperary, and Dunne knew him “from afar”. They met for coffee some time later, the Toomevara man agreed to come on board as the school hurling coach and is there three years with Theo now in second year there.

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Tommy Dunne was smitten with the whole feel of Cistercian, known locally as “the Monastery” from the minute he drove in the gates. “It has its own sort of identity, it's own energy and it is a huge part of the community around here. It is lovely to be part of that community. We are very happy since Theo joined here. That is some of the stuff we talk about with the hurling, that it is not your average school. There is something different about it. We are very lucky and privileged to be a part of that and we use it to our advantage when we can and to represent the college well when we go out.”

He was also familiar with Cistercian from his own student days in Templemore when they regularly made the trip across provincial borders for challenge games. “I’d know Pat Sheedy (a former Moneygall GAA hurler and chairman who taught in Cistercian until retirement some years ago) quite well and Dan Smith, Lord have mercy on him. They would have been people I would have known coming up along. They were great hurling men and I still meet Pat from time to time. Pat worked in the school here for a long time. Other than that, it was a fantastic school for sport and it’s great to see that this is still the case.”

He also knew several of the great Tipperary hurlers who went to Cistercian: Alan Tynan, a multi talented sports man who has played hurling, rugby and football at a high level; Paddy and John O'Brien from his own club, Seamus Hennessy and others. “There is definitely a strong culture of hurling in this school. And we’re delighted now to be, to be part of that culture.”

It has been a marriage made in heaven.

After ending his competitive hurling career after starring for Toomevara in their 2006 Tipp Senior Hurling Championship win, Dunne became a successful coach, helping guide his county to All-Ireland minor hurling glory in 2007, managing his own club teams, working with Tipperary senior hurlers, Dublin, other underage teams and various clubs.

His reputation has grown and the work he has put in with Cistercian College has paid off as they are now preparing for next Sunday's Leinster Colleges Senior “B” Hurling Championship final against Coláiste Abhainn Rí of Callan.

They were in C grade when he started three years ago, won that and have made steady, incremental progress since then.

“It was lovely to actually achieve something in the first year. It kind of felt like we were starting to make progress very quickly,”he said, though they went out on scoring difference in the group stages of senior B last year.

He knew that hurling enthusiasm burnt bright in their prime North Tipperary/South Offaly catchment area. “I knew there was a passion in the place for hurling. Obviously it’s in the middle of the hurling country and all that so all the surrounding parishes are very interested in hurling in the place. It has been so far so good, it’s been really enjoyable.”

When he took on the job, Dunne knew all about Cistercian College's powerful rugby ethos and their determination to flourish in the Leinster Senior Cup.

Cistercian have beaten Belvedere in the first round of the Senior Cup and are playing St Michael's this Wednesday – there is enough time between both games for young lads to recover but the fear of injuries is always there.

Six players are on both squads:

Hurling goalkeeper Aodhan Carroll is prop on the rugby team;

Thurles Sarsfields' boarder, Keelan Dunne is full back on the hurling, wing on the rugby;

Laois minor hurler Dan Bowe is their midfielder, and came on at full back in the rugby the last day;

Oisin O'Shea, Roscrea is hurling wing back, rugby wing forward;

Sean Stone played every hurling game until the semi-final replay and is wing on the rugby;

Transition year student, Stephen Fogarty is wing forward on the hurlers and close to making the Senior Cup squad.

As a hurler, Tommy Dunne was a fiercely driven competitor, focused on winning but he is very happy to work with the school dynamic, his rugby counterpart and make sure the load of their dual players is managed correctly.

He explained: “It is challenging and it is demanding. The seasons do overlap and without the support, co-operation and flexibility of my counterpart on the rugby side, Mark Butler, who has been fantastic, and Brendan McKeogh, the Director of Sport, it couldn't work. Our philosophy is it is a player centred approach and the needs of the player are the most important thing.”

When it was suggested that rugby must hold sway, Dunne stressed it is all dealt with according to schedules and who has a match coming up. “Not really, it is case by case, the player comes first and also has a say in it. We have had little or no confrontations over the years really. The players that are involved in both want to play both and they don't want to be caught in the middle of you can't do this or you can't do that. We operate on a case by case basis and we have a conversation if needs be around an individual player. We try to avoid direct clashes.”

The two codes help each other. Cistercian's hurling semi-final replay over St Brendan's Community School, Birr came a few days after a great rugby Senior Cup win over Belvedere and Dunne said they “fed off” the “energy” of that. “Some of the lads are on intercounty squads as well. They are doing so much and it would be easy to over do it.”

Fixtures are out of their control but they try and make sure there is at least a couple of days between games.

There are a couple of unique dynamics at play in Cistercian that don't apply in most of their competitors. One is the presence of boarders and day pupils on their squad with Dunne estimating it to be close to 50-50. Players from Tipperary, Offaly, Laois and Kilkenny all played in the semi-final win over St Brendan's but the fact that some students have their arrival home delayed for their twice weekly hurling training sessions while it is a diversion for others before they embark on their daily evening routine of dining, study and downtime, doesn't come into the equation.

“I couldn't tell the difference. I get to train with them two evenings a week from 4pm to 5pm. When they come out to me, I don't know who is boarding or day. They are all equal. What I do sense is the camaraderie and spirit with them. I have been to a few functions in the last few years and it is something unique to the place as well. The connection between past students and the present day is powerful as well. After the last game in Carlow, I stopped for a bite on the way home and met two Cistercian hurling supporters who were in the school thirty years ago and go to all the matches. That is part of the culture of the place. It is a special place and you do remember it. It is part of you. It is great to see people who have gone onto other things coming back to follow the team and being interested.”

The other factor at play is the cross-border rivalry between the Offaly and Tipperary contingents. Even though a small part of Toomevara parish is in Offaly, Dunne is a bit removed from that whole environment but is close enough to be conscious of it. He believes it works in their favour and leads to plenty of banter.

“It is a factor when I wear a bit of Tipp gear out training, they wouldn't be long about reminding you that you are in Offaly here. They are very proud of their hurling heritage as we are of ours but we reference this so many times when we are talking, when you are looking for a bit of motivation, they have only a few years in school. We have a good few sixth years, they are going to move on and the likelihood is they will never be in the same circle again, same different room again.”

He compares it to the Fitzgibbon and Sigerson Cups where players from many different counties play for a team, build up a huge connection through that and then drift off down their owns roads, scarcely coming in contact again.

“Different places, different parishes, different counties, different ways of looking at things” is the way he sums it up, adding: “When they are here, it just feels like there is a kind of unity in it and because we know it is not going to last forever, they are keen to make the most out of it. There is a bit of the Fitzgibbon Cup culture in it here. It is very enjoyable and it is a bit of craic. We are always slagging each other about something the other county is after doing or whatever. That adds a bit of fun to it.”

Dunne knew that he had a decent team this year and that they could make real progress. With Kilkenny schools in the “B” grade, a good Maynooth Education Campus side with a couple of Kildare senior hurling panellists in their ranks, St Brendan's CS hungry for glory a few miles further inside Offaly, he knew that there was loads of obstacles in front of them.

“I did think we had good potential for having a run but in colleges hurling, you could be without a lad on any given day. Home or away advantage counts so you just don't know. While I was quietly confident, I knew we had a lot of work to do.”

A first round 1-13 to 1-9 win “in awful conditions” over Castlecomer got them going in the group. “When you go to the heart of Kilkenny hurling country, you have to be on your game or you will come back with your tail between your legs,” Dunne said.

Home advantage was a big help as they qualified with good wins over Maynooth and Mountrath which meant they went straight into the quarter-finals, beating Dublin opponents, instead of having to play a preliminary quarter-final. With their dual commitments, this suited them down to the ground, meant that they were full strength nearly every day and were in top form for their semi-final derby with St Brendan's.

Those were two magnificent games of hurling with Cistercian surviving a replay nerve tingler. “The Birr match was huge. All the lads know each other and there was an edge on the day. Sometimes a game like that can take on a life of its own and we had two cracking games.

“I thought we were hurling really well at the start of the championships. Then with the weather and pitch conditions, it felt like we weren't hurling as well. We had such a huge break over the Christmas, it was hard to get that momentum back. I am hoping now with the matches we have played over the last three weeks, we have a bit of momentum and we have a bit of rhythm going again. Obviously the confidence and belief we have got from beating Birr is definitely a good thing. Callan will be a very formidable team and we know we are up against it again but we are delighted with the journey we have been on and the boys have been magnificent. I couldn't speak highly enough of them, their parents and the whole school. It is not just the boys, it is the support around them which they need. They have to study as well, a lot of them are doing the Leaving Certificate. They have an awful lot going on but they have been tremendous.”