Shane O'Sullivan remembers picking stones off the Ballygunner pitch when he was growing up.
"The back of an articulated truck was our dressing rooms! There was a hole in the roof and the water used to come in and the lads used to messing saying it was the showers! Different times! I remember picking stones on the field. All the juveniles were out on the field. We would line up in lines of 20 across the field and just walk up and down, picking stones. That's how little we had at the time. An all hands on deck approach. There's some great pictures up in the clubhouse. Paul Power had a digger at the time and all of us, as kids, on the front of the digger and all the stones in the bucket! Great memories. I think they gave us a bottle of Bubble Up at the time. That's what we got for it!"
After beating Shamrocks in the All Ireland final back in February, O'Sullivan showed the cup to his first coach in Ballygunner Michael Kearney. "I remember meeting him outside the church with the cups. That was really emotional. Just to see the joy on his face. A couple of months afterwards, as he was progressively getting a little bit worse, I went in with the cups again. We sat down and had a great chat about old times. He just said 'that was the greatest moment of my life. Thank you very much.' Sadly, Michael has passed since but he will be with us in spirit."
Shane has great memories of travelling to training in the back of Michael's van. "There were tools everywhere! We used to go into town to play matches against the city clubs. With health and safety now, you wouldn't get away with it! A little blue van and all the tools in the back and an abundance of young hurlers would come out of the van! Fifteen of us came out of the little van! All ready to play the match!"
Ballygunner will do battle with Shamrocks again in Sunday's All Ireland semi final at Croke Park. Hear more from Shane O'Sullivan on Friday's Lár Na Páirce show from 6.10.
Shane was speaking ahead of the AIB All-Ireland GAA Hurling Senior Club Championship Semi-Final, which takes place this Sunday, December 18th at Croke Park at 3.30pm. The AIB GAA All-Ireland Club Championships features some of #TheToughest players from communities all across Ireland. It is these very communities that the players represent that make the AIB GAA All-Ireland Club Championships unique. Now in its 32nd year supporting the GAA Club Championships, AIB is extremely proud to once again celebrate the communities that play such a role in sustaining our national games.
