Munster Under-21 Fooball Championship final
Cork v Tipperary
Semple Stadium, 7.30pm
It feels positively churlish to pull up Brian O'Driscoll on the fact his two older brothers have won All-Ireland under-21 football medals and he hasn't. Truth is they've already written a small piece of Cork GAA history between them, as the first trio of brothers to play senior football for their county at the same time in the same game.
For now, however, O’Driscoll can’t yet boast the achievement of his two older brothers, Colm and Kevin: in 2009, they both played in Cork’s All-Ireland under-21 football final triumph, with Colm scoring the late goal that finally broke opponents’ Down (earning him man of the match in the process).
Provincial medal
Brian O’Driscoll, meanwhile, has lost an All-Ireland under-21 final (to Galway, two years ago), and hopes to bring Cork one step closer to another final when he captains the county in this evening’s Munster final against Tipperary. It also offers him the chance to win a fourth successive provincial medal, with Cork actually going for a record-equalling five-in-a-row (Kerry the other county to achieve that, 1995-1999.)
O’Driscoll was a substitute in their 2012 Munster victory over Kerry, then started the last two years, Cork beating Tipperary in both those finals. Against that backdrop they’ll go into this evening’s game as clear favourites, although Tipperary (who are awaiting a final fitness clearance on captain Colin O’Riordan), will be no pushover.
“We seem to be on a nice roll in Munster, but we know Tipperary are a very good team, and they could easily put a stop to that run,” says O’Driscoll, who played a typically influential role in Cork’s semi-final win over Kerry last month. “You can’t read too much into this going for five-in-a-row – if you do, you find yourself out of the championship with nothing. Plenty of this Tipperary team beat us in the 2011 Munster minor final, down in Killarney and they beat us again the following year up in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. So they are a very hard team to beat.”
What is certain is that O’Driscoll is not looking beyond this evening’s game, and the prospect of winning that All-Ireland under-21 medal like his brothers (especially as reigning All-Ireland champions Dublin await this evening’s winners in the semi-finals). It’s more about enjoying the journey as much as the destination, the family ties also stretching to his father, Gene, who for the last two years has been coach with the Cork under-21s, alongside manager Seán Hayes.
Closer ties
The O’Driscolls have even closer ties with their club, Tadhg MacCárthaigh – the junior all-football outfit based in the village of Caheragh, in west Cork. Their grandfather, Sonny, is one of the founding members, and not many people in Cork had even heard of the club until the older O’Driscoll brothers emerged last year under Cork manager Brian Cuthbert.
Then, at half-time in Cork’s Allianz Football League match against Monaghan back in February, the three brothers wrote their little piece of history: Brian and Colm had both started the game, then Kevin came on, which meant (if only for 16 minutes, before Brian was taken off), three brothers were playing senior football for Cork for the first time.
“It would be nice if the opportunity arises again but we’ll just have to wait and see,” says the youngest O’Driscoll. “You have to be happy with making your senior squad, but to have two brothers with you is a massive achievement for the family. But the brothers have the bragging rights at the moment, at under-21. I can’t be thinking too far ahead to All-Irelands, because if you’re not fully focused for Tipperary they will turn you over.”
