By Liam Burke
In August 2024, Liam Burke did a profile of one time Kilkenny hurler and County secretary Paddy Grace. The Kilkenny Observer received some wonderful comments on the article and readers of this paper hoped there would be more articles on former GAA people.
Today, Liam Burke takes a look at the life of Tullaroan man, Sean Clohosey.
Long ago, even before I was a teenager, Sean Clohosey of Tullaroan and Kilkenny was one of my favourite hurling heroes. A hurler with exceptional skill, Sean was recognised as one of Kilkenny’s top hurlers during the fifties, until he rather suddenly retired after helping the Noresiders to defeat Waterford in the 1963 All-Ireland Hurling Final.
Outstanding
Sean played an outstanding game for Kilkenny in the middle of the field on that particular day, and supporters were shocked when he suddenly announced his retirement a few short hours later. The fact that he was still only 32 at the time and free from injury was a real surprise when he decided to hang up his boots.
I suppose I have always had a bit of a grá for Tullaroan as the hills of the famous hurling stronghold were always visible from my home in Dunmore. And I suppose the fact that my uncle Billy Burke played for some years with the club also caused me to favour the lads with the white jerseys and the green sash. I should also mention that my grandmother was a Clohosey, not from Tullaroan, but from the townland of Seven Sisters in the parish of Johnstown. I heard that they were related, and I would certainly hope so.
Before 1884
It has been recorded that the Clohosey family had been connected with hurling even before the GAA was founded in 1884. Sean’s grandfather was a very active administrator with the club and his son Pat (Sean’s father) won his first Senior County Championship with Tullaroan in 1904, and his last in 1924. Pat Clohosey who was born in 1885 played in ten county finals winning six medals. He was also a substitute with two Kilkenny All-Ireland winning teams in 1904 and 1911.
1931
Sean was born in 1931, and was very prominent at under age level with Tullaroan before being named on the Kilkenny minor panel which reached the All-Ireland final in 1948. He scored a vital goal to defeat Wexford the following year, but he was then dropped as he was working in the Bank in Killorglin, and it has been said that the selectors decided at the time that it was just not feasible to bring him all the way back from Co. Kerry just to play minor hurling with Kilkenny
Point disallowed
Sean made his debut with Kilkenny in 1953, and they might have drawn with Galway in the All-Ireland Semi-Final that year, but the referee disallowed a point which had been scored by Jimmy Heffernan, as he had decided to blow the final whistle just as the ball went over the bar.
50,000 attended
Kilkenny were very poor in 1954, and were rather easily beaten by Wexford in the Leinster final. They also lost the Leinster finals during the following two years, but they returned with a vengeance in 1957. Before a massive crowd of over 50,000 Kilkenny had an easy win over Wexford who were double All-Ireland Champions at the time in the Leinster final on a scoreline of 6-9 to 1-5.
Although injured, Sean scored two very valuable points in the 1957 All-Ireland Final against Waterford, and they were so lucky that year, as they could have been beaten in the first round against Dublin in Croke Park. They were entering their tenth year without a senior All-Ireland victory, and we will be in a similar position in a few months’ time. Will we be lucky again? Only time will tell, and to return to that first round in 1957, Kilkenny had been winning by four points near the end, but then Paddy McGuirk scored a goal for Dublin. Kevin Heffernan (who was better known as a footballer) then added a point. Heffernan again secured possession, and was just about to hit the winning point, but the referee Brian Smyth of Meath blew the final whistle. Kilkenny rather easily defeated Dublin in the replay.
Memorable
1959 was a memorable year for Sean Clohosey as he was selected captain as Tullaroan were County champions in 1958. This was a very significant County final win for Tullaroan as it marked the first time that they won a county Senior final with an all-native Tullaroan fifteen. Before the introduction of the parish rule in 1954, most clubs had players from many different parishes, which was not in keeping with the Community spirit of the GAA. That parish rule has been good to Kilkenny because since its introduction we have won 23 Senior Hurling All-Ireland Finals.
Related
Many of that Tullaroan County Championship winning team of 1958 were related. The five Hennessys- James, Paddy and Tommy, as well as the twins Bill and Joe were all brothers, and of course Sean and Jimmy Clohosey were also brothers. And the two Hogans Tom and Jim were also twin brothers.
Doubled
Sean Clohosey scored many memorable goals and points for Kilkenny over the years, but probably his last -second goal against Dublin in the 1959 Leinster final is the score that is most often recalled. Dublin were winning by two points, but Sean who had been standing on the edge of the square doubled an overhead ball to the net following a sideline cut by Johnny McGovern.
Captain
Sean, as the Kilkenny Captain had a fine game against Waterford in the All-Ireland, but Waterford with a rather fortunate goal near the end enabled them to draw. Ollie Walsh who played brilliantly in the Kilkenny goal had the particular ball covered but Jim (Link) Walsh, the Kilkenny full back, unfortunately deflected the ball with his hurley. Kilkenny were beaten in the replay as Johnny McGovern was forced to retire injured, having gone into the game with a shoulder injury, and Mick Brophy was missing because of tonsillitis. It should be mentioned too that Tommy O’Connell who scored three goals in the drawn game was illegally held on many occasions during the replay. The referee Stephen Gleeson of Limerick ignored the numerous blatant fouls on Tommy.
National League
Kilkenny failed to get out of Leinster during the following three years 1960-1962, but they enjoyed some consolation when they defeated Cork in the National League final of 1962 on a scoreline of 1-16 to 1-8. That was the last occasion that Christy Ring, who was almost 42 at the time, played in Croke park.
“We always come back”
The heading in the Irish Press GAA supplement featuring Kilkenny in 1934 when the GAA was 50 years old, was “We will always come back”. And we did just that in the following year 1963, when we once again defeated Waterford in the All-Ireland Final on a scoreline of 4-17 to 6-8. As I mentioned above, Sean had a fine game in the middle of the field, and then retired afterwards. Ah yes, Sean Clohosey was one of Kilkenny’s best ever hurlers, and he gave me many happy days when I was a youngster.
Sean who was born on October 27th 1931, died on October 6th 2019 in Midleton Co. Cork where he had lived for many years.
