First Dunnamaggin then the world

All-Ireland club hurling final: Some fell to their knees and kissed the ground; others pointed towards family and friends sitting the stands, as if to share the moment of triumph.

Croke Park was thick with euphoria. After 23 years the All-Ireland club hurling title was finally returning to The Village.

You'd swear these James Stephens players had never won anything in their lives. Except of course some of them had already won everything, bar the Tommy Moore Cup that goes to the finest club team in the country. For Peter Barry, one of the best defenders of his generation and whose medal cabinet is already overflowing, only now did it feel like his great career was finally complete.

"I would have laughed at you six months ago if you said we were going to win this," said Barry, captain for the day and whose commitment to James Stephens has always matched his commitment to Kilkenny.

"It's just incredible, and I don't think it will sink in for a few days. In fact I don't know if it ever will. I just know that in July 2003 we were facing Dunnamaggin in a first-round match and if we'd lost there we would have been relegated. We were going that badly. And now we're up here in Croke Park after winning the thing."

Once James Stephens got out of Kilkenny they set themselves the task of winning the All-Ireland, and yesterday was the end of a long and arduous journey. "Little things helped us along the way," added Barry, "like Birr getting beaten. And we felt Croke Park would really suit us, especially Eoin Larkin and the two McCormacks. And it did. The pitch out there is lovely. It really did suit us, the younger lads anyway.

"I just can't wait to bring this cup back to The Village now. Even after the county final some of the officers in the club, who've given their lives to the club, were 10 feet tall. I don't know how high they'll get after this one."

And the start, perhaps, of a truly great year for Kilkenny hurling? " Ah we'll see. We won't even go into that yet."

Midfielder Brian McEvoy and defender Philip Larkin also shared the years of uninhibited success with Kilkenny, but this was the moment they perhaps had dreamed most about from the beginning.

"This is the best," said Larkin. "This and the county championship. In fact the county championship was probably that bit bigger because it was something we'd be trying to do all our lives.

"And we honestly thought we'd never get out of Kilkenny, let alone win a club honour. But then once we did get out we knew we'd be as good as anyone there once we got a run at it."

But this year's breakthrough could be traced to manager Adrian Finan, who got the best out of the players. He can now look back on his masterminding season.

"Immediately after the county final we went into the dressingroom, and Peter Barry sat everyone down and talked about the great tradition in the club, and not to throw this chance away. From that day we were very focused, and really wanted to do well.

"And we reckoned we'd one really good game left in us. People wouldn't believe what they went through against O'Loughlin's in the county semi-final. That forms character for life. Even against UCD they had to pick out a score at the last minute. Pity that wasn't the talk of the Christmas instead of that disputed point.

"But that second half was magnificent, a dream really. We got some great scores very quickly, pulled away at just the right time. And I knew those two McCormack brothers, Eoin and David, are lads for the big occasion."

For Athenry, the pursuit of club hurling history is deferred for another day, but manager Billy Caulfield believes that day will come. "It's a great feeling when you win, I know," he said. "But we're here now having been beaten by a great team, and we're still very proud of our players. It didn't come off today but we're still alive and we'll stick our heads out again some day, and with a bit of luck we'll be back here again.

"This is an amateur game, and for parish clubs to come up here and experience all this, well sure that's the drive. A club player will always strive for greatness, and I know all these players are very loyal to the club, and the supporters too. They'll be back."