THE ROAD TO CROKE PARK
Training started at the end of January with the initial weeks spent building up our physical fitness. Willie Buckley took charge of the sessions and the response from the players was fantastic. Around this time Canovee won the All Ireland Junior Football Final and this set peoples minds thinking about how much could be achieved by a small local club.
Once the championship draws were made our first round hurling game against Ballinora became a non event as both teams were through to the third round. Both the football and hurling selectors drew up a programme and agreed that the emphasis was on beating Aghinagh in the first round of the football. If this was achieved then both teams would survive until July at least. At this stage we felt we had a good shot at both codes and equal importance was given to both.
On the 3rd of May Dripsey had a comfortable win against Aghinagh in the Junior football championship in Coachford. Two weeks later and with very little hurling preparation, Dripsey took on Ballinora in the first round of this Hurling championship. Despite the absence of a couple of players due to injury Dripsey ran out comfortable winners on a 3 - 11 to 0 - 2 scoreline.
The draws for the latter stages of the championship drew a mixed reaction with the hurlers being drawn in the tough half of the draw but the footballers favored to come through the easier half of the football draw.
In the quarter final of this Mid-Cork Hurling Dripsey faced their biggest rivals Cloughduv in Coachford. This proved a difficult task as Dripsey started slowly but recovered well to lead by three points with time nearly up. Cloughduv conjured a goal out of nothing to earn a replay. For the replay Dripsey started much better with the back following a strict man to man marking policy. Dripsey led all through and were comfortable winners on a 2 - 10 to 1 - 10 scoreline with Cloughduv's goal being the last score of this game.
The semi-final pitted Dripsey against Grenagh, the team who had taught us a hard lesson the year before in the Mid-Cork Final. The match was played in Mid August in Ovens but the weather conditions were as bad as could be imagined. Grenagh had by far the better of the first half despite playing against the wind and rain and led by 5 points at half time 2 - 3 to 0 - 4.
The second half saw a revitalized Dripsey team and a couple of astute sideline switches saw Dripsey take control of the game. A goal from a long range free by Diarmuid O'Riordan put Dripsey in the driving seat and with time nearly up the scores were level. Dripsey had a chance to take the lead when Diarmuid O'Riordan faced a long range free. However, he spotted David Foley all on his own and David split the posts to win the match for Dripsey 1 - 9 to 2 - 5.
Dripsey went into their second Mid-Cork Junior Hurling Final in a row as hot favorites. Their opponents were Donoughmore, who had provided stiff opposition for Dripsey in the previous year's semi-final. Two first half goals, the second just before half time, gave Dripsey a deserved two goal lead at half time 2 - 8 to 0 - 8. Dripsey continued in control for the second half and ran out comfortable winners on the scoreline 4 - 15 to 2 -10.
Celebrations were short lived as the Junior football team faced Macroom in the championship semi-final the following weekend. Victory meant a meeting with bogey team Eire Òg in the Mid Cork Final on the last Sunday in September. In a very high scoring game Dripsey came off second best losing in the end by 3 points after a storming finish.
Fate seemed unkind to Dripsey when it was decided the hurlers were to play the County quarter final the following Sunday against famed Glen Rovers. The Glen had been relegated from Intermediate the year before and were raging hot favorites to go straight back up.
Dripsey's lack of hurling practice was very evident early on but they staged a great comeback to lead by 2 points at half time. A Diarmuid O'Riordan goal just after half time seemed to put Dripsey in the driving seat but the Glen then hit a purple patch to lead 1 - 11 to 1 - 8 entering the last 10 minutes. Just as all seemed lost Dripsey staged a magnificent comeback to win a thrilling encounter on the scoreline 1 - 14 to 1 - 12.
Six days later Dripsey travelled to Pairc Ùi Rinn for a semi final meeting with Carrignavar. This was a unique pairing as both had won their divisional titles for the first time in 2008. Dripsey led all through the match but Carrignavar had a chance to level the match with 5 minutes to go. They missed the opportunity and in the remaining time Dripsey added a goal and 2 points with Mark O'Sullivan scoring the all-important goal.
The County Final was played the following Sunday October 19th in Pairc Ùi Chaoimh. This was the fourth weekend in a row that Dripsey were playing championship and some supporters were apprehensive as to whether the team could keep up the remarkable level of intensity they had shown in the previous 3 games.
The Final was played in terrible conditions and once again Dripsey proved themselves a team for all seasons as they battled hard to restrict Diarmuid O'Mathunas to a goal and 7 points for the hour. Team Captain Diarmuid O'Riordan had a field day from frees scoring 11 points of Dripsey's total of 13.
The celebrations at the final whistle were a sight to behold. Hundreds of Dripsey supporters were on the pitch side to witness the presentation of the cup to Captain Diarmuid O'Riordan by County Board Chairman Mick Dolan.
The team traveled to Dripsey Cross on an open top bus from Dripsey School. At the Cross hundreds of supporters were there to greet the County Champions.
The crowd acclaimed a host of speakers and this sparked a celebratory mood that lasted well into the following week.
Following the hectic schedule of the past month the team then had a break of 4 weeks before embarking on their Munster Campaign. The quarterfinal was played in Coachford on 16 November and the Cork Champions put on a vintage display to crush the challenge of Modeligo (Waterford) on the scoreline 3 - 17 to 0 - 12 in beautiful conditions.
The following Sunday Dripsey traveled to Charleville to play Monigea from Limerick in the semi-final. The match was played in freezing wet weather but Dripsey proved once again, their ability to adapt to all types of conditions and ran out convincing winners by double scores 2 - 12 to 1 - 6.
Three weeks later Dripsey traveled to Mallow for the Munster Final against Kilgarvan (Kerry) on a beautiful sunny day. A goal by Mark O'Sullivan in the first minute set the tone for the day and when the same player added a second after 15 minutes the game was over as a contest. In the end Dripsey ran out 2 - 11 to 1 - 3 winners and thus entered the Christmas break as Munster Champions. Once again Dripsey Cross was packed with supporters to welcome home the team.
The break over Christmas was short as the All Ireland Semi Final against Lisbellaw (Fermanagh) was fixed for 25 th January. The players had two weeks off after the Munster Final and started back training on 28 th December.
This was an unusual departure as the players normally had the month of January off. The usual routine was difficult to maintain, as it was not possible to get any match practice. For the selectors the difficulty was trying to keep the players feet on the ground and guard against overconfidence. Closer to the match the preparations were made more difficult as the venue kept changing due to the bad weather. The match was initially fixed for Pearse Staduim Galway. It then went to Ballinasloe and eventually ended up being played in Portmarnock, Co. Dublin. The Dripsey support, on a day when the weather was awful, was fantastic with people arriving by car, bus and train. The match itself proved difficult as Dripsey faced a very committed team from Fermanagh. Despite an early setback Dripsey gradually came more and more into the game and eventually won on a scoreline Dripsey 2 - 13, Lisballaw 2 - 5.
With 3 weeks to the All Ireland Final the atmosphere was electric around Dripsey with virtually everyone in the locality planning to spend Valentines weekend in Dublin. The club booked out the Plaza hotel in Tallaght with over 200 supporters booked in as well as the team.
Back on the field training was going well, Cork Minor Coach Ger Manley had watched the other semi final and gave the team a good indication of what they would be up against in the final against Kilkenny Champions Tullogher-Rosbercon. Dripsey traveled to intermediate team Kilworth for a practice match the week before the final and got a very useful workout. Luckily the team did not pick up any injuries and the selectors were able to pick from a full panel for the final.
On the last night of training former Cork Manager, John Allen, addressed the team with many gems of advice for the trip to Croke Park.
The team bus left for Dublin on the Saturday morning in order to complete preparations with a trip to Croke Park. This was an attempt to take some of the nervousness out of the players as they got a feel for how things were going to be the following day. The players were quite relaxed and seemed to be very confident, despite the fact that the Kilkenny Champions were odds on with the bookies. To keep the team relaxed they were taken to a secret location on the Saturday night for a team meal and a chance to unwind.
Sunday morning the mood of everybody in the hotel seemed tension filled. Father Peadar traveled up from home to say mass in the hotel. In the region of 250 people attended, for what was for many, the highlight of the weekend. The team bus had a Garda escort to Croke Park and this was a great move to relax everybody as they marveled at the authority the motor cycle Gardaì were able to demonstrate.
The match itself was probably the best performance of the campaign from a Dripsey team that raised their game to their limit. A goal from team Captain Diarmuid O'Riordan helped Dripsey lead at half time 1 - 7 to 0 - 9. In their best period of the game, the ten minutes after half time, a goal from Gary Murphy helped Dripsey into a two goal lead 2 - 10 to 0 - 10. Tullogher-Rosbercon threw everything at the Dripsey rearguard in an attempt to get a goal. The Dripsey defense stood firm, once again, and provided many heroics before the final whistle sounded with Dripsey victors on a scoreline 2 - 15 to 0 - 18.
The emotions displayed, both on and off the field, showed what this meant to the team and people of Dripsey.
The Captain's speech, the post match celebrations and the magnificent homecoming will long remain in the memories of those who witnessed them.
Will we ever see anything like it in the future - we can only dream.