Offaly starlet's emotional family link as Screeneys bookend county's clean sweep
'Really, he was living in my house from about nine o’clock in the morning when you wake up, he was there; then when you went to bed he went back home.'
Offaly's All-Ireland under-20 success earlier this year completed a remarkable circle of success for the county - and the Screeney family.
The six-point win over Tipperary at a thronged UPMC Nowlan Park on the June bank holiday weekend brought their first title at that grade in hurling, the only one that had been elusive after capturing each of the other five All-Irelands across both codes at senior, under-20/21 and minor at least once.
The first of all those came in 1964 when they won the All-Ireland minor football title, with the late Paddy Screeney part of the panel that made a hugely significant breakthrough.
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Sixty years later, his grandson, Adam, was the star of the under-20 team that went all the way, placing Offaly alongside only Cork and Galway by completing the set.
The link wasn’t lost on the 19-year-old starlet, whose memories of his grandfather remain vivid some nine years after his passing.
“Me and my granddad were inseparable,” he explains. “He was a huge influence on my career, under-8s, under-10s tournaments, he was there. He was the one who brought me to training.
“Really, he was living in my house from about nine o’clock in the morning when you wake up, he was there; then when you went to bed he went back home.
“When he passed, we got the medal home. In fact, he lost his medal. We were lucky enough to apply and get another one. And we have it at home on the mantelpiece. Delighted to be able to stick something beside it.”
As an occasion, that under-20 final towered above the vast majority of those at senior level over the course of the summer, with a capacity crowd of near 26,000 in attendance, the vast majority from Offaly as around one in four of the county’s population travelled.
“It was quite the experience really, it was probably one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. Travelling down with that group of lads, with guards escorting you the whole way from Kilcormac to Kilkenny was savage and then walking in and seeing the crowds around Kilkenny.
“And then when you walk out on the field for a walk around before and the stadium is half full, I don’t know would you get that anywhere else in the world at an underage event - I don’t think you would.
“It was really huge and it was really joyful just to be able to make the Offaly supporters who have been there for the last number of years and haven’t been successful, to put a smile on their faces.”
A precocious talent, Screeney is already among the highest profile hurlers in the country despite only joining the county senior panel this year, which can be onerous for one so young.
“I suppose for 90% of people, they are really there to help you and guide you along the way. Again I am only 19 and I am not going to know all the paths and I am going to do the wrong thing at times.
“For most of the people out there, they are very good to you and just guide you and help you in the right way. They are not there for any badness really.”
However, he did ship some flak after missing Offaly’s All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final defeat to Cork as he embarked on a holiday on the back of the seniors’ Joe McDonagh Cup final win over Laois the previous weekend.
Without prompting, Screeney referenced former Offaly hurler Brian Carroll, who insisted that he should have postponed his holiday until the day after the Cork game.
“I suppose it’s in the past now, it’s over. But, on Brian Carroll, Brian was a legend of Offaly before, wore the Offaly jersey for many years and he is entitled to his opinion and I’ve the utmost respect for that man the way he has carried his career with Offaly and I’d be delighted if I have a career like he had with Offaly.”
Screeney admitted that there were “loads of conversations had” around his staying for the Cork game but he concluded that embarking on the holiday “was the best decision for myself”.
When asked if he would make the same decision now, he replied: “I suppose that is a tough question and I don’t know if I can answer that but it’s in the past now and I will look forward to the club championship.”
He added: “I suppose, for me, it's still very important to balance my life, in terms of what happens with hurling and what happens outside of that. Luckily enough, most of my colleagues are in the game with me. Seven or eight of my best friends are all doing hurling under-20 with me, and hopefully senior with me.
“Yeah, it is difficult but as you see, there were four of us that played the under-20 All-Ireland and then went to play the Joe Mac final and I think all four of us were cramping which is a sign that there's a lot of workload on the body.
“Yeah, it is tough but in fairness to the management, all the managements, they're generally very good.”
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