Club Achievements

Michael Cleary

Article taken from …. The History of GAA in the North Tipperary division

In a pen picture of Michael Cleary in the 1990 Tipperary G.A.A. Yearbook, the writer had this to say: ‘The former Nenagh CBS star had an eventful year (1989). His big chance came in the NHL semi-final, when he came on as sub and scored four points to beat Kilkenny.... A beautiful striker of the ball, ‘JK’ has the skill and control to make him a long-time member of the Tipp attack.’ The projection was correct: Michael was to remain part of the Tipperary team until after the All-Ireland of 1997 and win four MI-Stars as well as many other awards.

Born in Nenagh in August 1966 Michael had his first competitive game as a nine year old in an under-l1 Primary Schools game in the Railway Field at Thurles. Brother Perkins was in charge in Nenagh CBS Primary School at the time. Two years later in 1975 he was on the school team which won the county under-l1. On the same day, as if to indicate his precocious quality, he also played on the successful under-13 team. Two county medals in one day! Not a bad start!

He went to secondary school in 1979 and didn’t have much success in the early years. Lost out in the Rice Cup, the Pearse Cup, the Croke, the Kinane and the Fitzgerald, in three of them at the final stage. Borrisokane seemed to be always better than them. However, success finally came in 1983 when Nenagh CBS won the All-Ireland Colleges B, beating Callan CBS, who had John Power, in the final. Part of the reason for success at this stage was the addition of three or four new players, who came into the school for the Leaving Certificate. Success was also late coming at club level. None at under-12 or under 14. Michael played under-16 for three years, the first two without success. But then in 1982 they won North and county out of the blue, beating Kickhams, who had Sean Alley and Walter Carroll, in the county final.

In the same year, as if to make up for previous lack of success, Michael also won North and county under-21 medals. For the first match in the championship Nenagh could muster only fourteen and, as the team left from outside JKC’s, Michael was drafted in to make up numbers. He played centre- forward, scored three points and was retained. They beat Clonoulty-Rossmore in a replayed county final.

There was no success at club minor level where he played for three years. Instead, in 1983 he won North and county junior hurling medals. In the same year he won a North senior league medal when Nenagh beat Borrisokane in the final. In 1984 he was on the senior panel for the championship and came on as substitute against Lorrha in the North final. He was then just eighteen years of age.

In the meantime Michael had come to the attention of county selectors. His first outing on a county team was with the Tipperary Primary Schools at under-13. They were beaten by Clare. There was no success at under-16 in Munster. In 1982 he was on the team which won the inaugural Garda Cup. The following year he was on the county minors. They won out in Munster but were beaten in an MI-Ireland semi-final replay by Galway. In 1984 they were beaten by Limerick in the Munster final. The same team beat Tipperary at under-21 level-in 1986 and 1987. Michael didn’t play under-21 in 1985, being away in Australia for part of the year. Hence the nickname, Skippy !

Michael made his first appearance on the county senior team in 1986. It was Babs’s first outing as manager and the game was against Waterford at Clonmel. He wasn’t retained for the league and didn’t hear anymore until February 13, 1988, when he got a call from Donie Nealon to report for a challenge against Dublin at O’Toole Park. He got on for the last twenty minutes, scored a point and was retained.

He made his championship debut when he came on as a sub against Limerick in Cork but played no further part. Tipperary won out in Munster but lost the MI-Ireland. He started most games in the 1988-89 league, was often substituted and dropped for the semi-final against Kilkenny. However, he came on at half-time and scored four points from play and was retained for the final. Although they lost to Galway he scored 1-3 and this was enough to make him a certainty for the championship.

He was picked at corner-forward for the 1989 championship but on the Tuesday night before the match, he got a belt of the ball from Pat Fox, the player he was replacing, and was unable to play. Fox came on in his place, played a stormer and got Man of the Match. Michael got his place at wing forward for the Munster final against Waterford and was to be a permanent fixture afterwards. On the same day the English-Bonnar-Fox full-forward combination had its first outing.

Michael won All-Ireland medals in 1989 and 1991. He got his first All-Star in 1990, after defeat by Cork in the Munster final, and got three more in 1991, 1992 and 1993. He won Munster medals in 1988, 1989, 1991 and 1993. There were National League medals in 1988 and 1994. Railway Cup medals were won in 1992, 1995, 1996 and 1997. He has an Oireachtas medal from 1990.

At club senior level he’s had mixed luck. Having come on as a sub in the 1984 championship he played his first full champjonship game against Borrisokane at Moneygall in 1985. Partial success came in 1988 when Nenagh won the league, beat Roscrea in the play-off but went down to Loughmore Castleiney in the county quarter-final. Another league was won in 1990.

Nenagh Eire Og started to get their act together in 1991. They were beaten by a point in a replayed North final, and by the same margin in a replayed quarter-final against Holycross-Ballycahill. (Michael rather ruefully recalls the number of games in which they were beaten by a point, in replays so often, during the nineties!) The breakthrough came in 1992 when they beat Lorrha to take their first North senior championship in twenty-eight years. They lost out to Thurles Sarsfields in a replayed county semi-final.

They retained the North in 1993 but were beaten by Toomevara by a point in the county final. Michael’s display in the first half of that game was probably his greatest for his club. There was no joy in 1994 but the ultimate success came in 1995. They won the league but were beaten by Borrisoleigh in the North championship semi-final. In the play-off they reversed the decision with Borrisileigh, qualified for the county and beat Mullinahone, Cashel and Boherlahan to take their first and only senior title. They were well-beaten by Sixmilebridge in the Munster club final.

Victory eluded Nenagh Eire Og in 1996 and 1997. The North was won against rivals, Toomevara, in 1998. Carrick Swan were defeated in the county quarter-final but defeat was their lot against Cionoulty-Rossmore in the semi-final. For Michael this was their worse defeat. The team was at its best in that year and had the possibility of going much farther than the county. It was a much better team than had won the county three years previously. Inexplicably they didn’t perform on the day. In 1999 they were beaten by Toomevara in the North and county finals and they went down to the same opposition in the semi-final of the North in 2000.

In any assessment of Michael Cleary’s hurling career the first thing that is mentioned is his skill level. He had enormous skill, which was honed and perfected by endless hours of practice from an early age. He was an outstanding forward at a time when Tipperary had one of its finest crops. Perhaps his ability was a bit overshadowed by the higher profiles of his fellow players. The latter, however, hold him in the highest esteem and believe he was as good a forward as Tipperary ever had. They admire his great love of the game and his fine hurling brain but, above all, his great attitude. One of them said to me ‘You couldn’t get a guy with a better attitude.’ They admired his tremendous discipline and his total commitment. A quiet kind of fellow he was as near as possible to a perfect gentleman. Fine praise indeed especially coming from fellow-players. The same kind of praise is now coming from the camogie players he has managed to spectacular success. He has transferred some of his skill level to them and they are shining examples of how hurling can be played. So, even though Michael may be coming to the end of his hurling days he still has a major role to play in showing coming generations of players how hurling should be played. — S J King.