NAME: Niall Hand DATE OF BIRTH: 31/3/71 HEIGHT: 5' 9" WEIGHT: 13st CLUB: Kilcormac/Killoughey COUNTY: Offaly HONOURS: County - 1987 Intercounty Under 16 Hurling Leinster; 1989 Under 18 Hurling Leinster and All-Ireland; 1989 Under 18 Football Leinster; 1992 Under 21 Hurling Leinster Club - 1985 County Championship Under 14 football; 1989 Under 18 hurling; 1991 Senior Hurling League; 1986 Under 16 hurling and football; 1992 Under 21 hurling and football; 1992 senior hurling PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT: Sherwood Medical, Tullamore TOUGHEST OPPONENT: Sean O'Shea (Kerry minor centre back 1989). It was the only time I was ever substituted FAVOURITE GROUNDS: Croke Park, Semple Stadium, Tullamore, Birr FAVOURITE POSITION: Full forward - hurling. Centre back - football SPORTING AMBITION: To win a senior championship with my club and to play senior football for Offaly DO YOU PLAY ANY OTHER SPORTS? Badminton, Volleyball BOYHOOD HEROES: Matt Connor and Tony McTague - football. Paddy Delaney and Padraic Horan - hurling FAVOURITE PLAYERS: Brian Whelehan (hurling and county); Sean Grennan (football and county); Seamus Spain (football club); Henry Kilmartin (hurling club) BIGGEST INFLUENCE ON CAREER: Father WAYS OF IMPROVING THE GAME: I wish there was a definite rule regarding the tackle in football DISLIKES ABOUT THE GAA: Inconsistent referees - time wasting BEST GAME SEEN: 1982 All-Ireland - Offaly v Kerry (Magic) PLAYERS WITH A PROMISING FUTURE: Paul Bracken, Maurice Cooney, Stephen Byrne TELL US ABOUT YOUR CLUB KILCORMAC KILLOUGHEY: Our club is one of the youngest in Offaly, formed in 1986. On previous occasions when both halves of our parish amalgamated we were called Na Piarsaigh and St. Cormacs, but now we have our own secondary school and when we finish at underage level, we come out to play for the one senior club and our success at underage over the last few years should soon bear fruit KILCORMAC KILLOUGHEY OF LATE HAVE A GREAT RECORD AT UNDERAGE HURLING LEVELS IN OFFALY: The reason for this new found success is definitely down to our new club, plus some great trainers at this level. Namely, Billy Gleeson, Paddy Byrne, Johnny Cooney, Mick Hennessy, PJ Murray, Tom Daly, Willie Gorman, Donal Leonard, Tim Guigan, JJ Dillon, Larry Wynne, Brendan Monaghan and my father. For the record we have won A titles at Under 12, Under 14, Under 16, Under 18 on a number of times over the last few years YOUR CLUB IS SUPPOSEDLY SITUATED RIGHT ON THE OFFALY HURLING/FOOTBALL DIVIDING LINE: True. As we travel towards Tullamore, football is the No 1 game. As we travel towards Birr hurling is No 1. But that seems to be changing with the success of Birr at Junior A in football after a lapse of 46 years and with Tullamore now one of the stronger senior hurling teams. Also, Edenderry are making great strides at hurling and Gracefield beat Drumcullen to win the Junior A hurling title THE KILCORMAC END OF THE PARISH WOULD BE MORE OF A FOOTBALL AREA: True, but traditionally it's a hurling club. I suppose it's fair to say one of the sad aspects of the marriage of the two ends of the parish is that it's now gone back to it's roots and hurling seems to be taking over. It's only 6 years ago that Kilcormac got to a senior football final only to lose out to Ferbane. Now football has to take a back seat to hurling OFFALY HURLING STAR DANNY OWENS ALSO PLAYS WITH KILCORMAC KILLOUGHEY: Danny is from the Killoughey end of the parish, and everyone associates him with hurling, but he has represented Offaly at football also. And everyone at our club is very proud of him and he is also a great clubman, both as a player, selector and committee man YOU WERE ON THE OFFALY UNDER 21 SIDE THIS SEASON. YOU AND THE REST OF THE SQUAD MUST HAVE BEEN DEVASTATE BY THAT WATERFORD DEFEAT: Yes and no. We probably lost it the first day, as we were very unlucky with missed chances. We probably could have won the second day, but Waterford were the better team on the day. But knowing the lads like I do since our minor days, they will put that behind them and it will be great experience for the future THE PRESS BUILT YOU UP AS RED HOT FAVOURITES FOR THE REPLAY. WERE YOU A LITTLE BIT OVER CONFIDENT GOING OUT ONTO THE NOWLAN PARK SOD FOR THE SECOND GAME? It's hard to say. The team were well prepared and like the first day we felt we could win, but Waterford learned more from the drawn game and the ball ran more kindly for them. No, the press had nothing to do with it as it was Waterford's display on the day. Also their win was good for hurling as they had not won anything for years THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER 1989 WAS A GREAT TIME FOR YOU: Yes, but with preparing for both finals the month passed by very quickly, and it was very hard to forget about our win in the hurling and try and get ready for the football final. I still believe if we were to have met Derry before Clare in the hurling, I think the result would have been different YOUR FATHER CHRISTY WAS HEAVILY INVOLVED AND WAS TRAINER OF THE MINOR FOOTBALL TEAM: He always seems to be involved with some team or another, either at football or hurling. If he's not training a team, he's off to a match, sometimes two games in the one day. That's his life, hurling and football OFFALY, WITH THREE ALL-IRELAND MINOR TITLES DURING THE '80S, AND YET PRACTICALLY THE SAME SQUADS LOST OUT IN THREE SUBSEQUENT UNDER 21 FINALS. CAN YOU PUT YOUR FINGER ON THE REASON FOR THIS FAILURE AT UNDER 21 LEVEL? The answer is in the question. We had our luck in the minor finals, winning them all against Cork, Tipperary and Clare. Throughout the finals our opponents could relate to a miss here or there. That's the way it was in our Under 21 failure to Tipperary and Waterford. There was no excuses in the other one v Galway in 91 as they were far the better team OFFALY HAVE NOT MADE A GREAT START TO THE PRESENT FOOTBALL HURLING LEAGUE SERIES: True, but a number of senior players are taking a rest for the winter and the St. Rynagh's players were not available due to club championships. It was basically a young team and it afforded Eamonn Cregan and his fellow selectors a chance to look at the younger players and anyway, with the exception of two years ago, Offaly always do badly in the National League YOU RECENTLY MADE YOUR DEBUT FOR THE OFFALY SENIOR HURLERS IN THE NATIONAL HURLING LEAGUE: Yes, it was a great thrill. I was picked at corner forward for the away game v Down. I was lucky in that I scored 101 and held my place for the games v Antrim (home), Tipperary (away), after the Under 21 campaign ARE THE COUNTY SQUAD TRAINING HARD AT THE MOMENT? No. We start back in February and we have got our orders from Eamonn Cregan that we are to come back in good shape and do our own training over the Christmas period, the serious training starts then SOME OF THE MORE ESTABLISHED HURLING STARS IN THE COUNTY DO NOT SEEM TO BE INVOLVED AT THE MOMENT: Some of the established players took a rest for the winter period and it's hard to blame them as the year has been very long on some of them, but they will all be back for February and competition for places will be very hot, so it's up to everyone to show the new management they are ready and fit to play for Offaly. The good thing about them resting is it gave us, the younger players, a chance to show what we can do at that level HAS NEW BOSS EAMONN CREGAN, MADE A BIG IMPRESSION ON THE TRICOLOUR CAMP? Yes. All the players, both the younger boys and the experienced players respect him as he was a great hurler himself and given time he will make Offaly great once more CAN YOU RECOVER LOST GROUND IN 1993 AND GO ON TO GREATER THINGS? Yes, we have Kilkenny as our first game I believe, and our record against them over the past number of years at all levels is very good, and next year we will be underdogs and we can't blame the press that they are the All-Ireland champs, so I expect we can beat them Taken from Hogan Stand magazine 8th January 1993 Vol 3 No 1 Tweet

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