Sars chairman: 'In difficult times, everyone needs to pull together, and by God did they pull together'

There will be mention of Storm Babet, pitches flooded, pitches reopened, and normal service resuming.

Each could be described as a chapter title in the Sars story of the past year. They are important markers in the journey but fall well short of telling the full story. We know there was off-field work, it has been repeatedly recognised and applauded, but what exactly had to be done and got through?

Sars contest a first All-Ireland semi-final on Sunday afternoon. Instead of again putting a recording device in front of Johnny Crowley or one of his players, we went elsewhere. We asked club chairman, Keith Mulcahy, to tell us, page by page, chapter by chapter, the story of the past 14 months.

Mulcahy was down at the club grounds in Riverstown on the morning of Wednesday, October 18 last year. He was there chatting with Denis Kelleher and 92-year-old club president Denis Hurley. The rain hammered down. A fire officer landed at the front gates and told them to disperse.

His warning was that the place would be flooded within half an hour. Within an hour, the home of the then county champions was under water.

“When I look back on it now, where we have come from and what we had to go through, I don't know how we did it,” the chairman said this week.

The work started on the day their home was destroyed by the river that skirts the Sars grounds. Sandbags were laid which saved the bottom floor of the club shop and the foyer of the bar.

The day after, they appointed a loss adjustment assessor, Alan Fitzgerald, and made their first phone call of hundreds to the insurance company.

“It was a huge struggle dealing with the insurance company because they were fighting over everything. They were saying the astro pitch wasn't fully flooded because we had no video evidence, but sure we couldn't give them video evidence because we couldn't get over there on the day the place flooded.”

The astroturf was a priority for the club executive. The sooner they could get a new surface laid, the sooner they could get underage teams back into Riverstown and lessen the reliance on the whole host of clubs and schools making their respective fields available to them.

Their scattered juvenile teams meant they couldn’t afford to hang around for a resolution with the insurance company and so ploughed on with redeveloping the astroturf and adjacent wall ball.

“We got the astro opened early May and had it through the summer for the teams to train on. Without it we would have been in the height of trouble because we would have had nowhere to go.

“The cost of getting the astro repaired was €283,000. The insurance company didn't want to pay out and that was really frustrating for us. That took a long time to resolve. Up to September, we were still arguing on that. We did get a settlement in the end and they did look after us someway, but not at all like we needed.”

Their destroyed floodlights and devastated grass field were other contentious items where the level of damage was forensically queried and settlements hard fought. Their new 400 Lux lighting system set them back €303,000. The total repair bill reached €1.5m.

“There were investigations on everything, testing on everything, and reports had to be done. It was just a very long, drawn out process.

“We always knew we'd get something at the end of it, but when you are only getting a little bit when you are expecting a big pay out for something that had to be repaired, and then the Insurance company say; 'oh no, we are only giving you 10% or 15% of that,' it is very worrying.

“There were times in June, July, and August where I was kinda saying, we are never going to get this over the line, we are going to get caught to pay for this ourselves.

“We got there in the end and were delighted with what we got from the insurance.”

They got there with the help of everyone inside the club and the help of those with no attachment to Sars.

John Murphy of Goldcrop, a friend of the late Teddy McCarthy, rang Mulcahy the day after the flooding to offer advice. Hourihan Sports Field Development & Civils Contractors, who carried out the full body of repair work, displayed both understanding and patience as Sars waited with fingers crossed on insurance money to come through.

The aforementioned Alan Fitzgerald assisted them in securing incremental payments. Local TD Pádraig O’Sullivan assisted them in securing whatever grants they were eligible for to help meet the shortfall.

Inside the clubhouse, all the gym equipment had to be chucked out and replaced. The spin room required 14 new bikes. The bar was shut for seven weeks while the swamped cold room was attended to.

“It was an awful thing to happen to any club because you are only as strong as the people you have in the club and as strong as the teams you have on the field, and obviously the teams needed a gym, they needed a pitch, they needed an astro, they needed a hurling wall, and we didn't have any of that.

“The cold room was ready by the start of December last year, the gym reopened in March. But it all cost money, money we didn't have, really, but it had to be done.”

Mulcahy is wary of singling out club members. He knows he’ll leave someone out. Then secretary Alan McNamara and current treasurer Mark Dineen are exceptions. They must get mention.

“In difficult times, everyone needs to pull together, and by God did they pull together. Everyone in the club rallied.

“In 2023 we had to deal with Teddy's passing. This year, we lost Conor McCarthy, a stalwart in the club. That was a big kicking for us, as well. The Feakle and Ballygunner games, Conor and Teddy were like the 16th and 17th man because I feel they gave us that little bit extra.

“When I look back on the last two years, it has just been a really difficult time. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. But at the same time, there are rewards out of it.

"The grounds are nearly finished. All we have left to do is some tarmacadam, fencing and footpaths, which will be finished in the next few weeks.

“We are in a good place.” So they all keep correctly telling us.