In this week’s ‘My Club’ feature, Tipperary senior hurler Seamus Callanan tells us all about Drom-Inch GAA club.

By John Harrington

Drom-Inch GAA club is based in rural Mid-Tipperary and, as their name suggests, they draw their players from the villages of Drom and Inch and the surrounding hinterland.

Their club-house and pitch is located at ‘The Ragg’, around five miles from Thurles on the main road to Nenagh, and is renowned as one of the best hurling fields in the county.

The local population would be relatively small, but Drom-Inch tend to punch above their weight because the club is so well organised, with a particular emphasis on a juvenile section that consistently produces successful teams.

The club traces its origins back as far as 1887 when hurling was played in the area by two separate Drom and Inch teams.

At various times they would come together and then go their separate ways again, but since the early 1960s have competed as one which led to more sustained success.

They won their first county intermediate title in 1970 to qualify for the senior grade, and then, in 1974, won their first ever Mid Senior Hurling Championship, beating Thurles Sarsfields in the Final.

Since the turn of the century, Drom-Inch have enjoyed what could be regarded as a golden-age for the club.

Having previously only won two Mid-Tipperary senior hurling titles, they’ve added another five and won their only ever county senior title in 2011.

They’ve also become a force in Gaelic Football, winning Junior and Intermediate county titles back to back in 2013 and 2014 as well as multiple underage titles in the ‘A’ grade.

The club has produced a number of Tipperary county hurlers in recent years such as Seamus Callanan, James Woodlock, Eamonn Buckley, and Seamus Butler.

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Q: For those who wouldn't know, where exactly in Tipperary is Drom-Inch GAA club located?

**A: **The Ragg, where I'm from, is in Inch, so that's in between Thurles and Borrisoleigh. And then Drom village would be about a five minute drive away over the Templemore road. So, together, were Drom-Inch. It's a rural area, a small community, but we all pull together very well.

Q: So you would have gone to Inch primary school where Paudie Butler was previously principal.

**A: **I did, yeah. Paudie was principal when I was there so as you can imagine our lunches were filled with hurling.

Q: How big an influence did he have on you? Inch primary school would have been very successful and Paudie would had a big impact on the club's fortunes too?

A: Yeah, definitely. Look, he laid down the foundations with us when we were small. He was over the juvenile teams as well as the senior teams when I was coming up along. He played a massive part in my development at a young age, he was very helpful.

Q: What are your earliest memories of hurling with Drom-Inch and wearing the green jersey?

**A: **Wearing the green jersey for the first time, yeah, I can remember that alright. The primary school is directly across from my house and the hurling field is directly beside my house so I couldn't really avoid it.

The early memories would be of playing U-8 tournaments down in the hurling field. Every Saturday morning there would be a different tournament to go to and my parents were very good. They carted me around Tipperary to all of these different tournaments. Just great memories of being with my friends really. Hurling in school with them all week and then having the chance to play with them in the green and white of Drom at the weekend.

Q: There probably wasn't a day you weren't out on the club field in the Ragg considering you lived next door?

A: Every single day, yeah. You were made do the homework for an hour after school and then straight down to the hurling field. I'm lucky, I've good neighbours there who are living very close to me so we'd all meet up and go down together every evening. It was just brilliant.

Q: Drom-Inch would have a reputation for being a very well-run club, especially when it comes to underage structures.

**A: **Yeah, definitely. To be fair, a lot of the players give back to the juvenile club. We do try to put an emphasis on it and push it through. Damien Young would have had a massive impact even on my development when I was younger. He's very involved with the juvenile teams there as well. You have players there who are giving back and putting a lot of effort into the kids, so that's brilliant.

Q: How successful was your team coming up through the age-grades?

**A: **My own group didn't win a lot. There was a group there that in three years won three mid finals and two county finals in the U-21 grade. The likes of Eamonn Buckley and Damien Young would have been on that team and then there was a bit of a gap then after that when there wasn't much success.

We were in relegation battles for a few years until we had a bit of a breakthrough when we got to our first senior county final in 2005, which was my debut year. Seamus Butler was really to the fore in that set-up. Unfortunately we lost to Thurles Sarsfields that year, and then lost county finals again in 2007 and 2009 before we finally won it in 2011.

That was a massive moment for the whole parish. To have lost a few before then and finally win it, for a small community it was a massive day for us all. A day like that will never be forgotten.

To see the way the parish pulls together down in the GAA pitch is just something that really brings our community together, it's brilliant.

Q: You mentioned Seamus Butler. Would he have been someone you looked up to when you were a young lad and he was on the Tipp panel and the main man for the club?

A: Yeah, he would have been. You talk about your heroes and obviously the likes of Eoin Kelly would have been one for me, but my local hero would have been Seamus. I've hurled with Seamie for the last few years and you'd be learning bits from him the whole time. Himself, Eamonn Buckley, Damien Young, and James Woodlock and these guys would have been very influential. It's a really good club to be involved in and everyone is always so willing to help each other. It's brilliant.

Q: Football is quite strong in the club now as well, isn't it?

A: Yeah, we kind of took it up for the last few years! We won the Junior County Final and the following year we won the Intermediate and the year after that we got to the Mid Final in the senior and only lost to Loughmore by a point who were going for three county finals in a row. Look, we don't put a lot of work into the football. It's very hard to manage the two although Loughmore seem to do it fairly well.

Look, it's just something the younger lads in the club are very good at. Of the Tipperary minor football team that got to the All-Ireland Final a couple of years ago we had three or four representatives on that. We'd be trying our best to support them as much as we can through the football, even though it's not our main sport.

Q: There's been a good conveyor belt of talent in recent years, the club has been successful in both codes at underage level?

A: Yeah, we have in both codes, but the guys who really bought the football through are only 20, 21 now. Older members of the panel like myself wouldn't really be used to playing that level of football so we just try to help out with fielding teams and they take it on then.

Q: Do you enjoy playing football yourself?

**A: **Yeah, I definitely do. I really enjoy playing it. There's not much pressure on and you can actually just go out and enjoy the games. It's a great way of getting fit as well. Everyone just loves playing games I think, really. Yeah, I really enjoy the football.

Q: Drom-Inch always seem to be there or there abouts, I presume winning another county hurling title is top of your to-do list?

**A: **Yeah, definitely. I'd be a massive club-man myself. I love my club. The goal every year is to win that County Final with the club. You're hurling with all your best friends at home, the lads you grew up with, your whole parish and family and all your neighbours. It was so a special occasion the year we did it that you want to get there every year. Unfortunately we haven't gotten back there since to win one.

Q: Isn't it fair to say that Drom-Inch would be renowned for playing a certain brand of hurling? That as a club you would put a lot of focus on the technical skills of the game?

A: Yeah, we are, in fairness. We have good facilities there in fairness. A ball-wall and things like that which help. But I think no matter what facilities you have, you have to have an eager bunch of lads that want to go and use these things and we have that too.

We're very lucky, we've good young lads coming through. The future is really bright at U-10 and U-12 level coming through and we have some nice 19 and 20-year-old hurlers coming through as well so things are looking up.

A couple of us old lads will stay on for a few more years and try to help them out as well. Yeah, look, it's all good times.

Q: You obviously have a big appreciation of the club. But I'd say you got a sense of how much they appreciate you in turn when you won All-Irelands in 2010 and 2016 and the Liam MacCarthy Cup was brought back to the parish. It's a big deal for a club to have a player on an All-Ireland winning team, isn't it?

**A: **Yeah, it's massive for the club, definitely. We had a night when the cup came to the Ragg pub, Donal Young's, and there was a massive crowd there. It brought the community together even more. It was a night that we could all celebrate together.

It was as much for them as it was for myself. Liam Ryan was on the panel as well and we brought it back home. It was really great to see what it meant to everyone that had helped us along the way. When we're playing games they puck every ball with us, so it's very special for everyone.

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