AS TRALEE RTC celebrated a historic Sigerson Cup victory yesterday afternoon in Coleraine, there were a couple of ways of recognising centre back Seamus Moynihan. Firstly, he was wearing a very impressive brace on his nose, a plug up either nostril and a wire holding it in place.
Secondly, he stood back from the general delirium which attended the presentation of the trophy he had helped to win and chatted amiably to wellwishers as his teammates belted out The Rose of Tralee.
At the end of a historic weekend, which started with Tralee RTC becoming one of the first two RTCs to reach the final weekend itself, and finished with them as the newest name on the trophy, Moynihan's reserve could have perhaps been explained by the fact that he already had two Sigerson medals from his sojourn in UCC.
The Kerryman ruled this out with good humour: "Ah, you can never win enough of them".
It had been a difficult weekend for Moynihan. Operated on last week because of an injury that he had picked up in the quarter final against UCD, he hadn't intended playing in Saturday's semi final against Sligo RTC. But with the match in the balance 10 minutes from time, his introduction was no longer optional.
He started yesterday in his customary position at centre back and his contribution, if not as centrally dominant as in previous rounds, was rock steady in defence and grew as the match progressed.
Kerry colleague Dara O Cinneide, whose efforts on behalf of UL were mainly responsible for the match being narrowly poised at the end of the first half, said that he had felt upbeat at the interval.
"After coming back as strongly, we thought we had the hard work done," he said afterwards, before adding that it was the last Sigerson for him and a number of others who had come on the scene in UL's memorable 1994 tournament when they pushed holders Queens to extra time in the semifinal.
As in their previous matches against Queens and UCD, Tralee yesterday were too strong throughout the field. The tale of their historic achievement will be told with the emphasis on teamwork.
This year's Player of the Tournament award went to Kerry centrefielder William Kirby mainly, one presumes, because of yesterday's tour de force which claimed the middle for Tralee in the manner that a fully fit Moynihan did in previous rounds.
Unsung Sligo ended up giving the eventual winners their hardest test of the weekend when losing 2-10 to 0-10 in the semi final. The six point margin distorted the match as Padraig Joyce's goal arrived in the last minute with Tralee desperately holding on.
Trouble was largely generated from a centrefield where Dessie McNamara's physical aggression and Eamonn O'Hara's mobility kept up the pressure and were complemented by Niall O'Donohue's free kicking to keep Sligo in touch until the last few minutes.
The second semi final was a disappointment as hosts UUC never came close to displaying the form that had so sensationally ensured their presence at the final weekend.
From the moment Dinny O'Driscoll fired Limerick into the lead with a goal on 40 seconds, to the last minute when a Rory O'Rahilly lob was deemed to have been carried over the line, nothing went right for Coleraine and UL's sprightly forwards revelled in the space for an 11 point win, 3-12 to 2-4.
It was easy to believe that Limerick's forwards would make a good final of it. In addition, their defence looked sharp and confident and proved adept at firing ball into the marauding attack. Before the final, a couple of significant alterations were made to each team. For Tralee, Moynihan was brought in from the start in place of Mark McGauran with captain Eamonn Ferris switching back to the wing. Meath's Mark O'Reilly was switched, with Sean O'Mahony, to his All Ireland posting of corner back to counter Michael F Russell's introduction.
UL started the Laune Rangers' prodigy who had come on in the semi final against UUC and Fergal O'Brien dropped back to the bench.
The pattern of the match was straightforward. Despite an amount of possession, the Limerick side struggled to score. Tralee, on the other hand, were incisive and in the 18th minute, when leading by a point, struck for a goal.
Padraig Joyce who after an impressive campaign this Sigerson didn't enjoy one of his better days on the ball, hit a free off the post and Jack Dennehy netted the rebound. At 1-4 to 0-1, Tralee were heading out of sight.
Gene Farrell was everywhere and caused major disruption in the Limerick defence, Kirby and Michael Cloherty were beginning to squeeze the midfield and John Casey, although prone to an odd bout of petulance, drifted menacingly around the attack.
In their best spell of the match, however, Limerick came right back into contention. O Cinneide, the one forward to pose constant threat in the first half, kicked three frees in two minutes. He then took a quick pass from Niall Flynn worked the ball along the line, linked with Casey whose pass put Cloherty in on goal. He took out the remaining defender and Russell manouevred with great agility to slip the ball past the keeper.
To add to Tralee's temporary woe, Joyce, having pushed his team a point ahead, missed a penalty at the very end of the half. Hopes of a close run second half faded in the opening minutes as Tralee steadily added points with substitute Brendan Hannafin and John McGlynn getting a couple each and Farrell, hitting a productive seam, took three.
With no worthwhile ball goings into the forwards, UL's switch of O Cinneide to full forward was an academic exercise.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)