Forrest Little Team Captain Paul McGaley said the club’s supporters have been their “15th club” during their AIG Jimmy Bruen campaign and is hoping they can provide the extra spark once again as they aim to secure the club’s first men’s All-Ireland pennant at Thurles this weekend.
The Tipperary venue is set to host both the AIG Men’s Jimmy Bruen and AIG Women’s Minor Foursomes All-Ireland Finals, with the semi-finals taking place on Saturday before the finals get underway on Sunday.
Since its official opening in 1973, Forrest Little have secured just one All-Ireland pennant when their Girls’ Inter-Club side claimed victory at Castletroy in 2023, with this weekend providing the first opportunity for the Swords club to add another green pennant to the collection.
McGaley, Joe Lavin and Derek McCabe have overseen the Jimmy Bruen setup for the past three years, instilling a template for the club to follow in search of an historic victory.
From an initial 60 players who registered their interest, they have built a strong panel of 12 players who will travel to Thurles in search of glory.
“We built a template on how we wanted it to run,” said McGaley.
“I said to the manager of the club, to steal a phrase from the movie, Moneyball, the first guy through the wall always gets bloodied. I knew that we had a good format.”
“For me, it’s about generating a team spirit. All the guys are really invested in the team.”
Adam Duffy, Dylan McDonagh, Liam Duffy, Eoin Duffy, Stephen McCabe, Jimmy Penrose, Paddy Wilkinson, Adam Audah, Padraic Robinson, John O’Donovan, Paul Burke and Ciaran O’Brien make up the travelling squad, with each player having contributed since their journey to the finals began against Clontarf in May.
That victory over their Dublin counterparts instilled a belief in the team that they could go all the way.
“We beat a really good team and that was a springboard for the lads,” said McGaley.
“I kept reminding them that we didn’t just win a match, we beat Clontarf, who are a really good side. There’s a measure of where we are at.”
Victories against Elm Green, Seapoint, Westmanstown and Jameson Links followed before an All-Ireland quarter-final tie against Lough Erne produced a dramatic playoff finish where Adam Duffy and 16-year-old McDonagh secured their place in the semis by holing a 35-foot putt on the 20th to spark celebrations.
“It was very emotional,” said McGaley.
“One of the great things about our team and our club is that we have phenomenal support. To steal a phrase from Bob Rotella, our 15th club is our supporters. When we hit that 35-footer, they just went berserk.”
Forrest Little’s AIG Jimmy Bruen semi-final tie against Connacht champions Galway Bay will get proceedings underway on Saturday morning, with the first match teeing off at 10.00am before Tipperary take on Blainroe in the second semi-final from 10.40am.
The AIG Women’s Minor Foursomes semi-final will follow at 11.30am when Westmanstown face Ballina before Fortwilliam meet Ballyheigue Castle from 12.10pm.
The travelling Dublin support is expected to be strong once again, with all the talk around Forrest Little being about the Jimmy Bruen Finals. While McGaley is full of praise for the support received, he is trying to keep his players focused on the task at hand.
“It’s absolutely electric,” said McGaley.
“They’re organising a bus to come down. The whole club are behind us.”
“There’s a lot of talk of a green pennant, so I’ve just removed that from all our conversations. The brief to the lads is to think about your partnerships and have your strategy clear because on the day the only thing you can think about is the shot in front of you.”
After three years of building towards this moment, Forrest Little now have the opportunity to write a new chapter in the club’s history.
“For me, for the lads, for the three Duffy brothers whose grandfather was a huge club man, who passed away a couple of months ago, it would be spectacular,” said McGaley.
“For all of the 12 guys and for the club itself it would be a dream come true. They would be legends in the club. The first men to do it, their picture would be on the wall forever.”
“These lads deserve it. They practice hard, they’re disciplined and they play for each other. If they play to 95% of their ability, they’re going to be really difficult to beat. They’re a great bunch of guys and they deserve something like this.”
View tee times and scoring here.
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