Glenanne breaking the mould

Ask Graham Shaw if he ever regrets going with hockey rather than soccer and there is a slight pause. Philosophically he says you make your decisions and you live with them. This week his inclination is to believe he made the right choice when he left the Damian Duff-led Lourdes Celtic side and opted for Glenanne Hockey Club.

Behind Shaw are the Irish under-15 and under-16 soccer squads, the offer of a trial with Liverpool and the chance to sign as a professional footballer with Oxford. In front of him is Glenanne and the biggest moment of their history - the Irish Senior Cup final against YMCA at Belfield tomorrow.

A team from Tallaght has never before advanced thus far, a point that Shaw and the rest of his teammates fully comprehend. The cultural indifference in West Dublin to the game has always placed it in the shadow of GAA and football. It has had to fight clever and hard to carve out a niche.

There are a number of factors that has the hockey in such good shape at Glenanne's base in St Mark's Community School. In the late 1980s, Declan Bolger was at the hub of the Dublin football team. His brother Ciaran had currency in school with his peer group as the younger sibling of a high profile footballer. Ciaran went with hockey, not football. It was a small gesture but in the club it was seen to carry important consequences.

Once the structure was in place, patience played its part. Fifteen years on and midfielder Stephen Butler is a recognised international player and key to Glenanne's success, with Shaw on the periphery of the Irish panel. Three others, Alan Browne, John Goulding and Ian Clarke, are Leinster senior players.

"Most of our squad came through the Glenanne youths system," says Graham Shaw. "We all know each other well and for a lot of us our families have been involved with the club for a long time."

The Shaws have Victor, Gerry, Jimmy, Graham and David while Ciaran and Ian Bolger and Alan and John Goulding tie up a considerable family network.

Half of the starting line-up will be players under 23 and guiding them will be manager Terry Cooney and coach Noel Keogh, a veteran campaigner with a number of senior clubs but whose heart has always remained with Glenanne.

Small steps in 1996 saw the side claim the Leinster Senior Cup and last year they wrapped up the Leinster League and all-Ireland League titles. The Irish Senior Cup is the next inevitable step, a huge one, and despite never having been there before, they will go into the game as favourites.

YMCA will try to ensure that the trophy remains in traditional hands. Michael Fry leads a side packed with bloodlines, not least in Andrew Walker, Will Powderly, Stewart Taylor and Jason Milne. Furthermore, Eric Gierts from Belgium and Sean Southgate from South Africa provide an extra dimension. But hockey's crown jewel possibly residing in Tallaght sure has a nice ring.