This article is from page 85 of the 2011-08-30 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 85 JPG
TONY CARMODY was the last man standing in Semple Stadium on Saturday evening. Long after the final whistle, he was still happy to talk to supporters, sign shirts and give soundbites to reporters, so much so that a stadium stewart eventually had to ask him to speed up the process by shouting ‘Hey young Carmody, we are locking up in a few minutes.’
It’s a measure of the captain he has become this year after accepting Kevin Kennedy offer to play for the county once more after a glittering senior career.
“I’m hugely proud this evening. It’s been an absolutely brilliant day, a brilliant game and I couldn’t have asked any more from this bunch of players.
“Strangely enough, out of the four games, this is probably the most unattractive hurling we have played but when they [Kilkenny] went four points up after scoring a goal early on, we drove on towards the end of the first half and it set us up nicely for the second half. We maybe played within ourselves a bit in the second half but I felt we were always going to win it.”
Carmody’s All-Ireland was prematurely cut short when he had to succumb to injury after only 20 minutes and the Sixmilebridge man was forced into being a nervous supporter on the sideline. However, not before he make his mark on the final by grabbing arguably the most decisive score of the game with a stunning goal that gave Clare the lead that they would never relenquish.
“I think the ball came out to me and I could see an opening in front of me. The full-back came and once he was coming, I kind of had him off balance and the goal opened up for me.
“It really killed me to go off but the goal was great because it made it a bit easier to go off after scoring a goal than not scoring.
“My heart was in my mouth on the sideline. Even though we were six or seven points up, I was still dredding that something might happen but thank God it didn’t. I was a relieved man at the end that we had it won.”
With that, Carmody was swept away in a sea of young supporters, savouring every moment of a truly unforgettable day.