KEITH DUGGANtalks to Crusheen manager Michael Browne on how a bit of luck and a lot of hard work helped the small village side on their startling journey to a first ever Munster club final

IN THE years when Ger Loughnane gave everyone in Clare something to shout about, Crusheen was less a village than a metaphor for the tortures he inflicted on his hurlers.

Stories of the ritual training sessions at Crusheen – along with those infamous slogs up the hill at Shannon – through which Loughnane and Mike McNamara reshaped the minds and bodies of their players became legion.

Now, at a delicate time for the county hurling team, the small north Clare village has come into its own. Tomorrow, they play their first ever Munster club hurling final against Limerick debutant champions, Na Piarsaigh. Crusheen’s rise has been startling: they have gone from never winning a Clare championship to owning it for the last two years.

“When it comes down to it, we had a bit of luck and worked extremely hard,” says manager Michael Browne.

“But this is about the last 10 years really and building towards this. Gerry Carney did a lot of great work at primary level and then all the way along through the club system. In a small place like Crusheen, at U-14 level for instance, they have to join with another club to make a team.

“But we have a good number of lads in their early 30s and then guys in their late teens – it is almost two generations. The older guys kept the show on the road and waited for this younger group to come along and now we have a perfect combination.”

Browne’s attitude to Crusheen’s success seems perfect. The team is ambitious and fiercely well organised but he is not about to allow the importance of the moment escape him.

They played Sixmilebridge in the county final, winning a match played in absurdly wild conditions by 0-10 to 0-4 and Browne says his side were in a frame of mind that afternoon that would have made it difficult for any side to match them. Before they played Cork champions Carrigtwohill, he emphasised the importance of limiting their star turn, Cork veteran Niall McCarthy.

Crusheen did that, diligently turning a half-time deficit into a comfortable win. So Crusheen’s progress to this point has been steady and solid. But Browne can still appreciate the view and the significance of this final for both clubs. The fact that both teams have never played in a Munster final before makes the day particularly special.

“I think so. For Na Piarsaigh, it has been a massive year. To go straight to a Munster final after winning your first county title is unbelievable. We won our first county title last year and couldn’t win a single game in Munster.

“Ballygunner would be one of the really experienced teams and Na Piarsaigh went down to play them in their own pitch and still won. This is a serious team who are clearly not fazed by big occasions and big teams. So it has been phenomenal for them.

“For us, it has been great as well. Last year, we failed to win our first game in Munster. At least we have that off our backs now. So it is a bit like a fairytale and you do pinch yourself sometimes wondering if this is happening. But we are there and we are there on merit and we deserve to be there. And we will try to give a good account of ourselves when we cross that line.”

Crusheen’s success has been formulated on an excellently organised defence anchored by Pat Vaughan and a willingness to work for one another. With Kevin Downes and David Breen in exuberant form for county and club this year, stopping Na Piarsaigh will involve another afternoon of high concentration.

“Our approach to every game is to go out and defend staunchly and try to limit the influence of the opposition forwards and then work hard to get enough ball up to our forwards to try and win the game. So whether it is Niall McCarthy or Kevin Downes or David Breen or whoever it is, it is all about getting together and working and trying to put in a team performance. That is our plan every time we go out.”

Already, Crusheen have reached a level that would have been unimaginable a few years ago. The village has undergone a dramatic change since the motorway between Gort and Limerick opened. Suddenly, much of the traffic vanished. Browne reckons that the initial lull has been replaced by people who use the village to get on to the motorway.

“People will stop at the local shops and get bits and pieces so I think the trade aspect has evened itself out and that the village is doing quite well.”

And in hurling, it has never been better. The plan now is to keep it going through to the All-Ireland series.