Diarmuid O'Flynn
IT happens in hurling areas - I’m sure in all sports - you hear about this new phenomenon coming along, a youngster way ahead of his peers and way ahead of his time. Thus it was for us in Cork when we learned of Eoin Kelly, the youngster in Mullinahone, thus it was in Tipperary and Kilkenny when they first heard of ‘The Twins’ in Cork, Ben and Jerry O’Connor from Newtownshandrum.
When it came to Andrew O’Shaughnessy, however, we had a bit of an advantage here in Ballyhea – Kilmallock was just across the border in Limerick and their minor team was being trained by a Ballyhea man Neil Ronan. Three years in a row Neil trained Kilmallock to win the Limerick minor title, and in each of those three years, and though he was still U-16 for the first, Shaughs was the main man. However the third year was the big one. Covering the Limerick senior final the same day, it was the first time I saw this kid in action. What an eye-opener it was.
“The first year of the three-in-a-row the team was a bit indisciplined but we got discipline into them and we felt confident enough,” Neil recalls. “The second year we had a more balanced team and we thought ‘yes, it’s on this year’. The third year, we just thought ‘no, no chance, but if Andrew catches fire anything can happen.’ And it did. We got to the final, were playing Na Piarsaigh, a very talented team, but they had this one weakness that we had spotted – every one of their backs wanted to get on the scoresheet.
“Initially we had Andrew outside, but as the game went on and they started to come forward more and more, we said, ‘right, now we put him back in but we bring out everyone else’, all the other forwards, away out the field, leave him on his own on their side of the pitch. We knew if Andrew got ball, he’d score. We told the lads out the field – ‘when ye get the ball, just hit it in, anywhere, Andrew will win it. I forget what exactly he got, but it was enormous.”
In a game that was finely balanced all through, Andrew scored the first 4-9 for his team, and not until the final minutes did anyone else register as Kilmallock ran out one-point winners, 4-12 to 4-11. It was an incredible individual performance. but that same year Andrew also became the youngest ever player in the Railway Cup, when he made an appearance as a 17-yr-old for Munster won his second All-Ireland U-21 medal, played in the Munster senior hurling championship with Limerick and won Munster and All-Ireland colleges titles with St. Colman’s of Fermoy, scoring 5-3 in one particular game.
Over the years since then I have many times had the opportunity to marvel at Andrew’s hurling genius, have had many opportunities to meet and interview him also, shy as he is about such occasions. What struck you about him was the intensity, the drive for hurling perfection. He might have attained it too, but for a few unfortunate factors.
First, his timing – no, nothing to do with his game, just his timing into the world. In 2002, the hurling world seemed at his feet. Limerick had just completed a hat-trick of All-Ireland U-21 titles, Kilmallock likewise at minor – things looked on the up, at both club and county level. Didn’t happen, however. Though Andrew continued to shine, neither Kilmallock nor Limerick capitalised on that all rich promise and year followed frustrating year.
There was an All-Ireland final appearance in 2007 but a forgettable appearance it was, Limerick blitzed by Kilkenny in the opening ten minutes. An All-Star award followed, but had he been around in the mid-90’s, both he and Limerick might have had two All-Ireland titles to go with the two Munster’s of 1994 and 1996. Even had he been born when he was, on November 30th 1984, but a few miles up the road on the other side of the border, he would certainly have been on the Cork team that won that won Munster and All-Ireland’s in the mid Noughties, and would equally certainly have added to that single All-Star haul.
But he was where he was, and as time passed, the years under Justin McCarthy especially, I believe that Andrew – ever the perfectionist — became more and more disheartened by what he saw around him. Standards were slipping even as the likes of Kilkenny were forging ahead. Then came the autumn of 2009, and being cut by McCarthy from the Limerick panel, lumped in with nearly a dozen others due to a perceived lack of commitment and dedication. Andrew O’Shaughnessy, non-drinker, non-smoker, fitness fanatic, Army officer — lacking commitment, lacking dedication? The final straw probably came with the reaction of the Limerick county board, who backed the manager, and with the Limerick GAA supporters, many of whom turned on the players.
True, there was a diagnosis of MS at the end of that turbulent year, which would test even the stoutest heart. But he took that squarely on the chin and is still coping well. I don’t believe that is why Andrew O’Shaughnessy has now quit the inter-county scene. Yes there are greater calls on his time, what with being based in Cork and building a house in Kilmallock, but I believe he has simply had enough of the inter-county scene and all the accompanying pressures.
He will continue to play for his club Kilmallock and last year they finally did make the breakthrough by winning a senior title. This year they could do so again, and who knows, perhaps even go on from there. Perhaps in a year or two – still not even 30 by then – he may again feel the urge. Hopefully, this isn’t the last we’ve seen of him in Limerick green, but if it is, then thanks Andrew for the memories.
Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/lIGPm75fyi4/post.aspx
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