Burke ban on Ôyou have to lose one to win oneÕ talk pays off

STEPHEN GLENNON

IT takes a special team to go into the club’s first ever county senior hurling championship final and claim a victory at the first time of asking.

That said, St. Thomas’ manager John Burke and his six sons were never going to buy into the old adage that you had to lose one to win one, with John suggesting that had anyone came along to Castledaly espousing such a theory beforehand they would have been quickly shown the door.

“We didn’t mention that at all. I said to Jimmy Kelly and Justin Flannery (selectors), ‘I don’t want to hear anyone coming and saying that you have to lose one to win one’. That was out the window. If you get to a final, you have to win it. That’s it.”

With a broad, beaming smile on his face, Burke looks like he has bore witness to his wife Paula giving birth to his seven children all over again. The pride beats in his chest, for his family and his six sons who saw action on Sunday; for the panel of players who are akin to his own flesh and blood; and for the club which he played with into his early forties.

Sure, Burke may have envisaged this moment as far back as 2002 when they claimed the U-12 title but he was also aware that there were no guarantees in Galway hurling. A lot of things had to go right. “We are probably lucky that the younger lads are in school or college and the older lads are all working around.

“Now, we did lose Justin Kelly (corner back) last year – he is gone to Australia – but we are lucky enough that way, that not too many lads have gone away. It is awful important that they are all around. Of course, next year it all could change. You don’t know. For economic reasons, lads might have to go and get work. That’s it. That’s life.”It was this fear of the unknown that Burke impressed on his players at the start of the year, citing the defeat to great rivals Gort in the 2011 semi-final as proof of the fragility of life in the senior championship.

“We learned an awful lot from that. I mean, a couple of weeks later, the boys went back training or back to the gym. They all had different things to do and we kind of focused on that. We knew lads had to do different things in order to improve their game.

“They are nearly professionals now. They may be club hurlers but they put in an awful amount of time. The dedication they give. Their life has been put on hold. They have no social life. Yes, they will have it tonight, but they had no social life up to this and that is part of it. But they love what they do. Hurling is their life. They just love doing what they are at, which is great.”

To have all that manifest in a county final winning performance though is a different matter but Burke notes that once full forward Richard Murray netted his first of three goals in the opening 90 seconds, he felt they would not be far away.

“The players really tuned in after that. We talked about getting the good start. We knew if Loughrea got on top of us, if they got ahead, they would control the game. They are a brilliant team. However, we believed if we got ahead, it would push them to come out [from their defence] and that was important.”

By half-time, St. Thomas’ held a 2-6 to 1-4 lead but Burke was acutely aware the job was far from finished. “We were hurling fairly well and after the restart we really focused on getting a good start again. And we did, scoring the third goal. We got a couple of more goal chances but we didn’t put them away. We knew Loughrea would never give up, like any team in any county final. They are not going to give up; they are going to keep battling. And they did.”

Again, he says the good start was, ultimately, the difference, a sentiment his eldest son Kenneth also expresses. “Coming into the final, we said we had to get a good start and put a few scores on the board and get the confidence going.

For more, read this week's Galway City Tribune.