Two time All-Ireland winning senior hurling manager Liam Sheedy will share his insights into what it takes to perform to the best of individual and team ability as he delivers a talk at the annual Tuamgraney Handball Club social on Friday night.
The free event at McNamara’s Bar & Bistro in Scarriff, which commences at 8pm, will see the Tipperary man also recall his own playing career, including memorable jousts with Clare during the counties’ great rivalry from the mid-1990s to early 2000s.
The event is open to all and expected to draw attendees from not just the handball arena but coaches and players from GAA clubs across the east Clare area.
Friday night’s gathering will also see local handballers, who have starred across all grades again this year, celebrated, from Diarmaid Nash, who made it a perfect weekend for the club when he took the Irish Nationals title in his home Tuamgraney court last November, to the Cumann na mBunscol champions from recent weeks.
Nash will himself also take the podium to talk briefly about where his season is at, particularly as we approach the All-Ireland Senior Championships over the next number of weeks when he hopes to reclaim the Singles’ title that he won for the first time in 2022. First up this year will be the Doubles Championship, where Nash and Colin Crehan (Kilkishen) are reigning All-Ireland champions. Friday’s event will also hear about the progress of the women’s game, including the success of local players.
Liam Sheedy’s experience drawn from two separate terms as Tipperary senior hurling manager, including the unforgettable dethroning of Kilkenny in their ‘drive for five’ bid, will particularly pique interest for attendees. That historic 2010 defeat of Kilkenny resonates for GAA fans this year, in particular, and not least with Clare in the chasing pack seeking to undo Limerick’s very own ‘drive for five’.
The Portroe native, in the talk will shed light on his wider experience in hurling and, indeed, in business on what it takes to achieve peak performance at team and individual level, as well as his thoughts on handball and its place in the GAA.
Finger food will also be served at the event, with music provided by the hugely popular Jim King.