The Offaly folk hero attempting to raise the bar for his home club

ONE of the greats of Offaly hurling, Billy Dooley is trying to rekindle a traditional flame in his beloved Seir Kieran GAA Club.

Manager of their intermediate hurlers who play Shamrocks in the championship final this Sunday, Dooley's first demand of players is a simple one, though not as easy to achieve as you might think – empty the tank and leave nothing behind you on the field.

He has observed Seir Kieran's fall from grace in recent years and compares it to Offaly's decline as a hurling force.

As a player, he was a brilliantly deadly forward for both during a golden era in the 1990s. He won All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship medals with Offaly in 1994 and 1998 and was an All-Star in 1994 and 1995. Offaly's second golden era co-incided with a fantastic era for Seir Kieran – they won their first Senior Hurling Championship in 1988 and followed up with more titles in 1995, 1996 and 1998.

Billy and his famous brothers Joe and Johnny were star players on all those teams, along with Kevin Kinahan while a 1980s legend, Eugene Coughlan was pivotal to their great run. It was an amazing era for a club who who spent a lot of their existence in lower grades or struggling to make their mark in the top flight. Their last final appearance was a 2000 final mauling by Birr and since then Seir Kieran have dropped off the radar – they were relegated out of senior a few years ago before bouncing back by winning the senior “B” but are playing Clodiagh Gaels in the relegation play off next Saturday.

Senior is their priority but Dooley is very much aware that an intermediate title on Sunday could have a huge positive spin off for the club. He managed their seniors a few years ago and was glad to take over the intermediates when asked to this year – he went on the committee as well.

“Our senior team was in relegation again and from a club perspective it is nice to be getting to the final in something. A lot of hard work has gone on with the seniors this year with Barry Whelahan and Alan Corboy. They have done a lot of training with the seniors, just results didn't go their way. These intermediates were doing that training as well and it is nice to have something out of it.”

While Seir Kieran is a small club in their own parish, he does not go along with the theory that their decline is population related and has a more basic explanation.

“Probably not (population related). If you look at the Offaly situation at the moment as regards hurling, Clareen's is a little bit in that bracket in that we have slipped from the top table a bit. It is not really lack of effort from players. If we can get a little bit more belief in ourselves, we are not that far away from anyone,” he said pointing out that they have three adult teams and 66 registered adult players at the moment.

“I would say there is not as many players training in any club in Offaly at the moment. We had 42 players training yesterday evening between senior and intermediate. Even though we are not getting the results at senior, it is not really from lack of effort training wise but maybe some days when we go to hurl, we need to put the shoulder to the wheel a little bit more to get a result.”

He agreed that they had an exceptional group of players during their golden era. “Again you could reference the way Offaly was at that time. Hurling was very strong in the county but there were four or five very strong club teams. I always felt during that period we had good leaders in the club. That may be something we are lacking a little bit at the minute. If we could get a victory in something, I think we would progress on very much from that.

“It is not from lack of effort with lads training but sometimes when we go to hurl, I feel we need to put in more of an effort on the field. As regards training, I can never fault any lad in Clareen but sometimes when they go to hurl, they need to put a little bit more into it. Maybe us with the intermediates, I feel they are giving that and that is why they are after getting to the final. We were against the odds against Shinrone and St Rynagh's but for the second half, they gave a great display and got themselves over the line.”

In the group, a win over Brosna Gaels put Seir Kieran through but they received big beatings from Carrig-Riverstown and Shamrocks. “We hurled very well against Brosna Gaels in the first game. I think they were missing a couple. Shamrocks gave us a nice beating in Rath. Again, you are going to play first teams out of clubs. I remember our seniors playing Shamrocks three years ago (senior B) and we just about got over the line in Kilcormac so for us to be challenging them in an intermediate final is a big step for us.”

He agreed that it is an advantage that Seir Kieran don't have dual commitments but he was impressed by Shamrocks in the semi-final against Carrig-Riverstown who had beaten them three times this season. While Seir Kieran had a 3-17 to 1-22 win over St Rynagh's in their semi-final, he said as a manager he would prefer Shamrocks' 2-9 to 1-9 win. “When you can keep a game tight or low scoring, you have a great chance of winning it but so be it, we won't criticise what we scored either. They are strong.”

He was asked was the perception that dual clubs are fitter because of their football training an accurate one or off the mark. “It is a true point. There is advantages and disadvantages. If you have a player that is exceptionally fit and when you go down the grades of hurling, it might have more of an effecrt because if teams run at you and have the pace to do that, it can cause you a problem, whereas at senior level, hurling and skills come into it a good bit more. We have trained hard all year and we won't be fearing that end of it anyway.”

He was impressed that Seir Kieran were able to beat St Rynagh's with all their experience and the fact that they had players who have won senior titles. He also knew that St Rynagh's were very keen to get their second team up to senior B. “It helps mature players for senior hurling but we are glad to be in the final.”

He is happy with the work Seir Kieran are putting in at underage level, pointing out that they are not very strong at U-15 to U-20 but have a very good U-13 team. They are joined with Drmcullen at underage level and he hopes both will get players out of this – he has no problem with them joining together to provide players with games but very much wants the clubs to retain their own identity at adult level.

He co-operated well with senior manager Barry Whelahan and only one player went up from the intermediates to senior after the start of the championship – Darragh Guinan.

“I met Barry Whelahan at the start of the year and I said whoever you want, take, because senior is priority in our club and whatever we try to win is at the top level. I said, if ye take 21-22 players you should have enough in that. You are gone six players beyond your team so try leave us with everyone else. Don't be using lads for the sake of using them. In fairness, he agreed with that and that is what they stuck with. Probably for the last four games, we had who we had and we are quite happy with what we have.”

While his brothers, Joe and Johnny Dooley moved into Tullamore and their children played there, he has not seen much of a drain away from the area.

“Apart from them two guys and the odd lad emigrating, we did hold onto most of our players. It is not like we had an avalanche of players leaving the club. Johnny and Joe are in Tullamore from a young age and their kids grew up there and naturally should play there. Myself and Kieran live in Clareen. I have a sister living in Kinnitty and her sons are playing underage with Kinnitty. It is no different than Mary going over to Shinrone, her sons are hurling there but that's the joys of it. My mother came from Coolderry to Clareen and I am sure, they would have rathered she stayed up there and married someone in Coolderry.”

He was impressed by the quality of hurling between Kilcormac-Killoughey and Birr and stated that it will take a process for Offaly hurling to return to the top.

“K-K have some fantastic young hurlers and if the likes of Coolderry, Clareen, Shinrone, Birr or whoever, if we can start producing a few extra players, it won't be too long before we are getting back up the table a bit. The standard of some of those players the other night (at the U-20 hurling final between Kilcormac-Killoughey and Birr) was exquisite, I was very impressed with them.”

He hopes Seir Kieran will be at the vanguard of an Offaly hurling revival.

“They are very important but so is Drumcullen, Lusmagh. Every club you can keep turning over and producing players, you have a chance of getting someone out of it. We probably had three of four senior teams very even at the moment and if someone said to you, pick the best fifteen, it would be very hard to do. There is probably 40 players in Offaly at the moment and there is not much difference in them, We probably need to narrow that down a bit. Maybe if you can get 22-23 and say they are guys I can use every day, you are probably going forward a little bit better.”

Dooley has no issue with the final in Tullamore, though he would have preferred Birr.

“A lot of that stuff is a frame of mind thing. Tullamore is slightly bigger than Birr but not an awful lot. It depends on your own frame of mind.”

He smiled when it was suggested that Seir Kieran won't be lying awake worrying about Shamrocks this week.

“Well, we will have to do a bit of thinking about them. Someone has to be in the final and someone has to play. It is their first team and the advantage is in their court but we are not going down just to make up numbers. We are going to make a good spectacle of it and put the best foot forward for it.”