“Memories are made of this” 

By John Fenton

THE playing of the All Ireland Club semi finals recently reminded me that twenty years ago we were in a similar position having reached that stage of the competition by winning our second Munster Club title, beating Cappawhite from Tipperary in the Munster final before Christmas 1987. That in itself was a tremendous victory but we were determined to go all the way having failed at this stage of the competition in 1984. We also probably realised that this was going to be our best and last chance of winning the competition as many of the team had a lot of miles on the clock by this stage. We had won two consecutive county championships in 1986 & 87 (having lost the final in 1985) and there was a feeling abroad that we should hold back from the club championship and go for three in a row in Cork. However when we got through the Munster championship we were determined to try and go all the way to the All Ireland. After beating Cappawhite we took a small break from training but it was back at full tilt in early January. I well recall training one Wednesday afternoon when the ground was white with snow and we could not see the sliotars on the field.  We were scheduled to play Cusendall from the Glens of Antrim in the semi final and unlike now, where the semi finals are played in neutral venues, we were faced with the long journey to the North. Coming up to the game the excitement around the town was palpable. Plans were being made for the journey to the north and all available modes of transport were used. The troubles were at the height in the six counties at the time and there was some trepidation before the journey began, but with one exception, when one of the travelling buses was stopped and searched by the British army, everything worked out fine for the very large band of travelling supporters. The team travelled by train to Dublin on the Saturday and onwards by train again to Belfast. After arriving in Belfast an awaiting coach brought us the rest of the journey to our base in a village not far from Cushendall. All of the supporters that made the same journey with us on the train headed straight for Cushendall and by all accounts took over the place for the week end. Friendships were made that week end that last to this day and the name of Midleton is still held in very high esteem by the people of Cushendall and vice versa. The following morning John and Pat Hartnett and I were invited by two former Midleton men Fr. Rossa Williams and Fr Camillus O Donovan to visit their seminary in Portglenone in North Antrim. This was in the heart of Paisley country and the journey and visit were very pleasant.Once we got back to the hotel we headed off to Cushendall to play the game. The pitch was in very poor condition following heavy rain and only the fact that we had travelled so far the game would probably not have been played. The game was every bit as competitive as we were expecting and without the training put in beforehand we would not have survived. That evening we stayed in the area and Cushendall put on a big meal for us in the local school. Both teams were present and while we were elated Cushendall were distraught because they thought they had a great chance against us. They were a great team and like all hurling teams in the six counties they loved their hurling with a passion.  They were also very appreciative of the fact that we stayed with them when we went up north. Previous teams from the “south” that made a similar journey only travelled to the game on the day and one team in particular would not wait even for a cup of tea afterwards such was their hurry to get south of the border. Needless to say there was not too many hours of sleep that night and it was a weary bunch of players, selectors and supporters that turned up for the 9 o’clock train in Belfast the following morning. It took us 12 long hours to get home that day but it was a journey that nobody who made it will ever forget.