The Moycarkey-Borris senior hurlers.
By John Harrington
For the first time in 33 years Moycarkey Borris will contest a Tipperary SHC quarter-final when they play reigning champions Kiladangan on Saturday in Semple Stadium.
Back in July they contested their first Mid Tipperary hurling final in 22 years, so 2024 has been something of a year of renaissance for the club.
Based in Littleton just outside Thurles but also covering the villages of Moycarkey, Two-Mile-Borris, and Horse and Jockey, Moycarkey-Borris have been a slumbering giant of Tipperary hurling for a very long time.
They remain third on the roll of honour list for Tipperary championships behind Thurles Sarsfields and Toomevara, but haven’t won one for forty years.
The club has been on a steadily upward curve for some time now though, and that’s no happy accident.
Back in 2015 they put in place a five-year strategic plan that focused on five key areas – administration, communications and culture, coaching and games development, facilities, finance and fundraising.
The successful implementation of the plan has had a very visible impact.
Moycarkey-Borris teams at all levels are now consistently much more competitive, the club boasts excellent facilities, and the club’s executive are a well-oiled machine that continues to build well on the solid foundations put in place by that initial five-year strategic plan.
“The club is in a very positive place at the minute,” says Moycarkey-Borris club secretary, Mary Shelly. “There's a good vibe going around the place, everyone is in good form and it's a good place to be.
“Our club vice-chairperson, Lorenz Egan has done great work development wise. Any grant that's going, he's on top of it and on the ball.
“And our chairperson, Tom Flanagan, is brilliant. He's driving things on as well and is always looking for fundraising opportunities. It's all good. There's a good team there.
“John Corcoran (Finance Officer) and Sally Duggan (Treasurer) are doing great work on the finance side of things so we have an excellent team really.”
Moycarkey-Borris have invested a lot in their facilities in recent years, including the construction of a state of the art wallball and astro-turf training area.
She’s the type who likes to spread praise in other directions, but Shelly herself is emblematic of the work-ethic and can-do attitude that has transformed Moycarkey-Borris in recent years.
As well as being club secretary, she also finds time to wash the club’s jersies and update their social media accounts.
She’s a mother of seven children, and they’re all Moycarkey-Borris to the core as well. Five of them represented Tipperary at various levels and codes last year, including her sons Rhys and Kyle who have been hugely influential during the club’s run to Saturday’s quarter-final.
“Every weekend is crazy,” says Shelly. “You'd spend the week catching up after the weekend. The men are starting to wind down and the women are only starting to get going so it's always busy.
“It’s always been a hectic household but it’s easy to do because if you walk to the back of my garden you’re onto the back pitch of the club. We're living that close and they all loved it growing up.
“It's easy do it when everyone is that interested in. They'd all just head out to the pitch and off they'd go. We're delighted with how they’re all going.”
Her son Rhys, who has impressed as a goalkeeper with the Tipperary senior team, made history back in 2021 when he became the first man to captain Moycarkey-Borris to a Tipperary County U21A Championship title.
The same generation of players had previously won the Mid-Tipperary Minor ‘A’ Championship in 2017 and the Mid-Tipp and Tipperary Minor ‘A’ Championships in 2018 so they’ve been coming for a while.
Moycarkey-Borris captain, Rhys Shelly, prepares to accept the Cup after their 2021 U-21A Tipperary Championship success.
Players like the Shelly brothers, Max Hackett, Jack Fallon, Peter Melbourne, Joe Maher, Tom Ryan, and Stephen Walsh have since made the leap to what’s a very young senior team and progress to a long-awaited Mid-Tipp Final this year seems to have accelerated their development.
“In fairness the atmosphere around the Mid Final was fabulous,” says Shelly. “Everyone bought into it. There were flags and bunting everywhere, it was brilliant.
“Even the crowd over in Moyne-Templetuohy, we definitely outnumbered Loughmore that day. It was great.
“Kiwi (Kieran Morris), Rory Ryan, and Pat Molloy would be the three older lads on the team. After that you're talking about an average of 24 or even younger. It's a very young team and you'd hope they'd be around for a while.
“For the older lads they've never seen anything like this. It's great for them because they've been plugging away for years so it's great to have an opportunity like this. It might be their last chance, I don't know, I hope not.”
The quality of young hurler the club is now producing suggests there are more bright days ahead for the senior team.
18-year-old Jack Hayes is really impressing in his first senior championship campaign, the injured Liam Corcoran will be a huge addition when he returns to the fold, Killian Cantwell won a minor All-Ireland with Tipperary this year and is a really promising talent.
Another talented generation of players is now also coming through the juvenile ranks – they reached the Munster Final of the Community Games this year and were beaten in the Munster semi-final last year.
Moycarkey-Borris reached the Community Games Munster Hurling Final this year.
The club has developed very strong links with the local primary schools in Littleton, Pouldine, Two Mile Borris, and Gaile which is also helping to rise the standard of the young players coming through the ranks.
Success at senior level would give everything another lift. They go into Saturday’s quarter-final against Kiladangan as rank underdogs, but you never know.
“We know that it’ll be a really hard battle and nobody is giving us a chance,” says Shelly. “Kiladangan are a very good team, from one to 15 they're extremely good hurlers so it won't be easy.
“We'll turn up on the day and we'll see what happens. They're all capable players so if they all hurl well on the day you never know.
“We haven't been consistent enough this year. You've lads who have played well for half a match so if we can get a full match out of them all then you never know.
“We know what’s in front of us but, whatever happens, there’s a very positive vibe in the club and the moment and we’ll enjoy it.”
