Joe Rabbitte The Big Attacker From the Hurling fields of Athenry The Artane Boys Band will most likely serenade the Galway contingent at Sunday's big match with their version of 'The West's Awake' and while most of the maroon clad supporters will recognise that as the county's anthem, it would be of no surprise at all if most of them whistled another tune silently to themselves. "Run Rabbitte Run, Rabbitte Run, Rabbitte Run" could be the song on their lips, especially if big Joe can deliver another inspiring performance like the one he gave against Tipperary in the semi-final. Shortly after the half way mark in the second half, the Galway brains trust elected to move Joe Rabbitte from the square to the forty yard mark, and their switch worked out better than, perhaps, anyone anticipated. As Tipperary threatened to spark off a mini-revival, Rabbitte, at least twice, soared spectacularly to field the sliother around midfield and drive the Tribesmen on the offensive once more. On such incidents do teams' spirits founder and Tipp's faces visibly wilted. They seemed to realise then it was not to be their day. Rabbitte himself claims that only the sight of a very well known Galway face next to his convinced him that his side had reached the All-Ireland final. "The first person on the pitch after the final whistle was P.J. Molloy, a member of our own club, and it was only when I saw him that it sunk in we'd won. I was concentrating too hard before that to realise how long was left in the game." For all youngsters who aspire to wear their county's colours one man can provide a great source of inspiration. Generally, it would be someone from the parish who has scaled the heights, and when Rabbitte was learning his trade around the (Hurling) fields of Athenry, P.J. Molloy was the local folk hero. "I remember when P.J. brought the Cup out to Newcastle school in 1980. I was just ten years old at the time. Naturally enough, the cup was filled with minerals and a few songs were sung, but what will always stick in my mind was that when all the lads went out to the pitch at the back of the school to hurl, P.J. came out and watched us. I have never played in such a dangerous game of hurling in my life. Everybody wanted to impress P.J. He was a great hurler and still is a lovely person." Being made of tough stuff himself, Molloy might appreciate better than most what Joe Rabbitte endured just to take his place on the field against Tipperary. The Galway Number 14 wore a pair of the new hurling gloves that day, and he had good reason to do so. "A couple of weeks before the semi-final I broke a bone in my right hand. When I went into get it x-rayed, I asked the guy doing the job to x-ray my other hand as I was in constant pain with my little finger. He obliged me and told me that I had two small fractures there as well." Consternation in the Galway camp??? Anguish for Rabbitte??? Not a bit of it. From the outset, Joe made up his mind that fracture or no fracture, he was playing in the game. "The Galway team doctor Doc McGloine is also my local doctor here in Athenry and he done a great job on me. I was constantly getting laser treatment to heal the fracture and reduce the swelling. Admittedly, it was a race against time but it was one race that the Rabbitte was going to win." The gloves were worn a few times during training. "Just to get accustomed to them" and Joe maintains that they made little difference to him during the heat of the semi-final battle. "They gave me extra protection all right, but they didn't interfere in any other way. I could still get the same feel of the grip on my hurl, but once you get used to them you have no problems at all. In fact, I used play with no head protection, but since I suffered a broken nose some while back, I wear one with a full face visor guard and it took me more time to get used to that." Despite his own decision to wear protective player gear, Rabbitte does not advocate that such measures should be compulsory for others, especially for Juveniles. "There's no harm in wearing them I suppose. But forcing people to do so is wrong. Kids especially may have difficulty getting used to them and it would be a shame to lose a good hurler because he didn't want to wear a helmet. Joe, in fact, is among those who believes that the helmet can sometimes do more damage than good. "Raymie Ryan wouldn't have taken as bad a knock as he did only for the lad who collided with him had a helmet on in our game against Tipperary," he states definitely. While claiming, "I never bother with the newspapers a week or so before a big game, paper never refuses ink and I don't always believe everything I read", Joe does say that Babs Keating infamous "hurling needs a Tipp and Kilkenny final" remark, really got his dander up. "I don't like harping back to that game. It's over and done with now, but I heard that remark myself on the radio and yes let's just say it was a real source of motivation for me and any other Galway man who heard it." Indeed, so motivated were Galway that they literally nearly tore the gate down to get out on the pitch against the Premier County." "I read in the papers the day after the game about us supposedly shouting and roaring like lunatics in the tunnel. What actually happened was that when we left the dressing room the gate on to the pitch was closed. Some of the lads up the front were roaring for it to be opened. We were all psyched up for the game, so yeah I suppose if your man hadn't come quick enough with the key the gate wouldn't have been too much of a barrier. I try to switch myself off from listen to the band, have a look around and get tuned in to the stadium and the atmosphere. When the sliothar is thrown in I switch the psyche button back to on." And he also seems to settle down very quickly afterwards. If his claim to forgetting all about what had gone before is to be believed. "On the bus back to Galway I actually began to think of Kilkenny. The Tipp game was gone from my mind altogether and all I could see was black and amber". And wearing that black and amber according to Joe are three of the best forwards in hurling today - Carey, Power and Morrissey. How Galway deal with them holds the key to Sunday's clash. "If I was Ollie Walsh I wouldn't be worrying about Galway at all. I'd be concentrating instead on the strengths of my own team, especially in attack. I won't say too much about how we plan to stop them except to say that as an attacker I enjoy it when full backs let me play the way I like. The Kilkenny forwards cannot be allowed to play the game the way the like on Sunday". Already this decade, Joe Rabbitte has tasted Croke Park successes when Galway, masquerading as Connacht, defeated Munster in a Railway Cup final two years ago and it is feeling that he devoutly wishes to experience once more. "The only medal I don't have in club hurling is an Under 12. We lost to a last minute goal against Killimor. Even then I realised that winning was not everything - it was the only thing. I have no intention nor has anyone else connected with this side, of losing on Sunday." Of course, to quote Mandy Rice Davies, 'He would say that wouldn't he'. Rabbitte's optimism is based on a number of solid factors however. "We have a very even sort of team this year. If one or two of our attackers fail to score, it won't be crucial as the other four are capable of getting a big tally. I expect a big score from Joe Cooney on Sunday and ask any one who has ever marked him and they'll tell you Joe Cooney on song is virtually unstoppable. Also you asked me if I was given a million pounds and told to buy players from another county to put on this Galway side who would it be. The truthful answer is I'd pocket the money myself, as we don't need anyone else. I have absolute faith in the ability of every manjack on the current panel." Words that may seem the obvious ones to say when you read them, but had you heard the tremor in his voice as he spoke you'd soon realise that Rabbitte's emotions were heartfelt ones. He believes implicitly in this side and defeat is an option he cannot contemplate. The build up to the All-Ireland final, and it is Rabbitte's first at Senior level, can throw as much pressure on players as can the match itself. So how does a 23 year old going into his first McCarthy Cup decider handle the occasion. "At the moment I am working on my father's farm so we're fairly busy at that. But you never put the game out of your mind. Absolutely never. Even when I'm unconscious asleep I dream about it. If I'm going down the fields after cattle, I'll bring a hurl with me for a few pucks, and any evening we've no training I'll get out after the dinner and puck the sliothar up against the wall for an hour or so to keep the eye in. And come the morning of the game, well one things for certain, Rabbitte doesn't suffer from nerves and if he does they most certainly do not affect his appetite. "The Doc is always on to us about how important diet is. I believe him. After all, he's the expert, but on the morning of a match, I'll eat as big a breakfast as anyone and get out for a long walk to stretch the legs. When I get into Croke Park I tend to watch the first half of the Minor match without really seeing it at all. If you know what I mean?" One tradition which Joe would prefer to see broken is that of teams travelling to the capital the night before the big game and he says he has a reason for it which makes sense. "The bed you know is the best one for sleeping in. some players, and I won't name names, find it hard to settle in strange surroundings, and you need a good night's sleep before a big game. It was to outsiders a strange looking outfit that was selected for the semi-final. No Keady, no Pete Finnerty and Gerry Mac at centre half. Joe says if anyone on the teams needed reminding that they were far from indispensable then they certainly go in that day. "When we heard the team I feel everyone of us thought we must be a hell of side when Keady and Pete couldn't get on it. Also if things do go wrong you have some great back up available. By the time this is printed I suppose the team will be well known but such is our strength in depth that anyone on the panel has to fancy their chances of being picked and anyone of the panel with do as good a job as anyone else." Immersed in the Galway hurling scene all his life, his dad was a noted Athenry club performer. Joe is bullish about a Galway win, that he muses on what odds would be given on a Galway clean sweep this season. "Our Minors are in the final, so are our Under 21's and the camogie team. I don't see why we cannot make it a four time and deep, deep down I'm certain that we'll win. I have prepared myself, as I'm sure the others have, for nothing less than victory. You have to think positive all the time." And the spirit is such in the Galway camp that Rabbitte claims "Kick one of us and everybody limps." And that if one player slips up there will always be someone there to cover up for him, and not just on the pitch either. Reminded that one famous occasion a Galway captain burst into a rendition of The West's Awake upon receiving the McCarthy Cup. Joe first of all says that Hopper McGrath probably doesn't know the words, but then just like on the pitch, "If Hopper can't do it sure somebody will cover for him I know the words myself." And then he's off into a tale about how Pete Finnerty once persuaded him sing on the way back from a League match in Waterford. But that's another interview. Joe Rabbitte once he starts is perpetual motion as Kilkenny may well find out come Sunday evening. Written by Hogan Stand Magazine 03 /09 /'93 Tweet

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