KILKENNY:ALTHOUGH THE Liam MacCarthy Cup was on its way to Thurles, there was still a glint of precious metal in the evening gloom. Kilkenny's minor team, who had defeated Clare, held aloft the Irish Press Cup like a silver tassie.
After a day of pouring rain, the sky cleared by late afternoon and the public turned out in their thousands to line damp streets for an emotional homecoming parade.
For the first time since 2005 the senior players were returning from an All-Ireland Final defeated – but unbowed.
Throughout the county yesterday, conversations echoed the magnanimous words of Kilkenny manager Brian Cody: “The best team won the All-Ireland.”
While the “drive for five” may have been derailed by a scintillating Tipperary, supporters of “the Cats” were not going to forget the previous four glorious years of achievement and sheer pleasure.
At McDonagh Station, awaiting the team’s specially chartered train, the crowd included children who had not even been born the last time Kilkenny lost, and fiercely loyal fans of all ages who demonstrated that dignity in defeat was as important as the celebration of victory.
A ripple of applause greeted the unexpected arrival, by car, of injured star player Henry Shefflin, who had travelled home earlier from Dublin. Shefflin, whose personal “Battle of Wounded Knee” had ended during the fateful 13th minute of Sunday’s game, hobbled like Achilles on crutches on to the railway platform and was besieged by well-wishers.
Watching proudly, as he patiently signed autographs and posed for photographs with young fans, his former teacher Joe Dunphy, a retired principal of Ballyhale National School, remarked: “What a role model he is; the GAA should really bottle him.”
In time-honoured tradition, the players boarded open-top buses for a now familiar journey to a civic reception and an outpouring of public affection and gratitude.
Tomorrow, hurlers like James “Cha” Fitzpatrick (25), a teacher at St Olaf’s National School in Dundrum, Dublin, will slip back into their cherished anonymity and return to work. Their exploits, though, will be spoken of with awe and reverence by hurling fans for generations to come.
