![\"All-too-familiar](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GPJVXGHIP5EHLAGN5BICUY3QUE.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"Eire](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/UVSVQAK2WBHDNLZEAW6NSK3TRU.JPG\")
<\/a><\/p>\nBut other offerings have been few and far between as inter-county teams, in particular, became more professional in approach; an innate suspicion of allowing anybody in from the outside leading to what has largely been a closed shop.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why it came as something of a shock \u2013 to most of the players, as well as punters \u2013 when a YouTube trailer appeared a few weeks ago that a new documentary charting Tipperary\u2019s incredible All-Ireland triumph was being released on Monday. <\/p>\n
\u2018Blue to Gold\u2019, the brainchild of Tipp hurler Conor Stakelum, among others, and produced by Retake, includes footage from every stage of a campaign that saw Liam Cahill\u2019s men rise from rank outsiders to the steps of the Hogan Stand.<\/p>\n
Only a handful of players on the Premier panel were aware the documentary was under way, with Darragh McCarthy among those whose remarkable rollercoaster summer was captured.<\/p>\n
Red carded in the opening seconds of a Munster championship clash with Cork in April, then sent for an early shower after receiving two yellow cards in the All-Ireland semi-final win over Kilkenny, his maiden season did not look destined for such a happy ending.<\/p>\n
But, at just 19, his temperament held up on the biggest day of all \u2013 McCarthy finished the unforgettable final victory over the Rebels with 1-13.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to watching it and reflecting back on the year, see what hardship you went through,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something to do over Christmas anyway, keep away from the boredom.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Documentary](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/LXLNHW7YVJDNJGJBD2QTTYFONM.jpg\")
Documentary ‘Blue to Gold’ was released on Monday, December 22 <\/p>\n
With much of the footage captured by the likes of backroom team members Mick Clohessy and Damien Young, it wasn\u2019t that participants were sworn to secrecy – but two-time All-Ireland winning midfielder Willie Connors admits it came as something of a surprise when the trailer emerged.<\/p>\n
\u201cPersonally, and I\u2019d say there\u2019s a lot of us in the same boat, we didn\u2019t know anything about it until we saw that. Within the group, there was only seven or eight knew about it.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow we have a few lads – Mick is a masseuse, Damien is stats – they\u2019d always have cameras on the go\u2026 you know the way people go for a video before games to try and get the momentum and confidence going. Knowing what you had banked, they might show clips of that.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut there was only one or two camera lads we had in every now and again; we didn\u2019t take any notice of it, didn\u2019t know what was coming, to be honest with you. There\u2019s a suspense over it now.\u201d<\/p>\n
As they put in the hard yards ahead of the start of the new county campaign, Connors is under no illusions that it could raise eyebrows in some quarters – or even be used as a stick to beat them with in others.<\/p>\n
But having a detailed account of such a memorable campaign can, to his mind, only be a good thing as the years wear on.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the highlight. <\/p>\n
\u201cI know other teams will see you doing it, and sure there\u2019s a target on our head now, and they\u2019ll say \u2018these are going doing films\u2019 or whatnot\u2026 notions. It\u2019s all going to be spat out; fans will say it, our own lads will say it about us.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it could be a new thing coming in, and I think it\u2019s a good thing. Because even if, say, Antrim won it in X amount of years, and they\u2019d done a documentary that year, I\u2019d love to see it. I\u2019d love to see what they are doing on the inside.<\/p>\n
\u201cOr Limerick… Limerick probably have one done but maybe never released it. I\u2019m sure there\u2019s something there as well. I think it\u2019s good for teams anyway, and it promotes our game. <\/p>\n
\u201cLike, I do chat to people abroad, and if you sent it on to them, they\u2019ll see everyone is working all day, not home until 10 or 11, back up the next morning\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sure there\u2019ll be a bit of slagging over it, but sure we\u2019ll take it on the chin.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boss Cahill admits the footage is not \u201coverly invasive\u201d, but felt it was important for Gaelic games to evolve and be in a position to tell its own stories,<\/p>\n
\u201cThe narrative out there, and the perception in the rest of the country, was that Tipp were a beaten docket,\u201d said the man who led his native county to the Liam MacCarthy Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the GAA we have to move with the times as well, because we have a sport that\u2019s always evolving, has evolved hugely since I played 20-odd years ago; to see the standards these guys are at now, the sacrifices and the commitment and the resilience that\u2019s involved to be an inter-county player in any county.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause what we\u2019re doing in Tipperary is the very same as what\u2019s being done with the Down senior hurlers, Antrim senior hurlers, they\u2019re putting in the very same effort and I think it just gives a little insight as to what really goes on to be an inter-county player – either hurling or football – in the current climate.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there\u2019ll be a lot of interest in it from a curiosity point of view, and I think they deserve to see that. We want to move our sport forward and really hit not just an Irish audience, but people abroad as well\u2026 a lot of people living abroad looking at this from an amateur perspective would say they are remarkable people doing what they\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s our culture and our heritage and that\u2019s what we love doing – it\u2019s part of our history and a part of our identity.\u201d<\/p>\n