Tipperary GAA

Dan Delaney remembers his son Tom playing in underage blitzes. How could he forget? Tom first started hurling with his brothers and cousins as a six-year-old in ...

Anyone could have the ability to do it, whoever they are, providing they’ve the right go-ahead from home and an interest in it themselves.” “But he’s rose above all that, and that’s the real story here. If he plays until he’s 40 I’d love it, and I’d always advise him to keep at it but would it tear the heart and soul out of our house if he was to give it up? “In Cahir, he’s just one of the lads,” Cleary adds. “But Tom’s a hero to all the young lads and girls in our club. He’s a great model for so many children in similar positions and similar ways of life, and anything negative that did come out of it, he’s answered it by putting the scores on the board. So they have a great influence on him and if you’re looking for where he gets his inspiration from, it would be from them. “But all the way up along, Tom just loved it. Hopefully that’s not the case with Tom,” he adds. That was in the interests of fairness but this was like something they’d never seen before. His sister Christina won an All-Ireland under-16 football title with Tipperary and played minor for the county too. His older brother Francie won a Tony Forristal with Tipperary and still plays with the club.