IN A SPLIT second, Michael Quinlivan feared that he had gone from hero to zero.

It had only been a fortnight since Clonmel Commercials’ historic win against the superpower that is Nemo Rangers. Trailing by two points deep into injury time, it was Quinlivan who plucked the ball from the sky and drilled home the fairytale goal that brought the Munster club football title back to Tipperary for the very first time.

As luck would have it, this year was the Munster champions’ turn to face the London representatives and so, with the buzz still ringing in their ears, they headed for the airport.

“I think it was probably our best performance of the year surprisingly,” the Tipp county star reflects, but his own involvement against Tir Chonaill Gaels lasted less than half-an-hour.

With Clonmel five points up and well in control, he stepped across Tir Chonaill’s Cathal Magee. Magee went to ground; Quinlivan was shown a black card, his third of the year.

And then the panic set in.

“I know the inter-county [rule] is three black cards and you miss a game so there was a lot of frenetic looking into that,” he recalls.

It had been said to me before the end of 2015, ‘Don’t do it again,’ in no uncertain terms!”

The rule book was scoured while Quinlivan waited anxiously on the sideline, watching his team-mates close out a nine-point win with judicious professionalism.

“About an hour after the game someone texted me to say it was ok, ‘You’re alright.’ There was a couple of inquests going around.

“[My immediate thought was] that I might miss the semi-final. I was walking in at half time and I had my head in my hands, thinking ‘What am I after doing?’

For something so stupid — you know it wasn’t a ‘good’ black card, in what can be called a good black card. I know that might sound a bit cynical but there is in certain terms if you know what I mean.

Crisis averted, Quinlivan and Clonmel now have their sights set on Saturday’s All-Ireland semi-finals against Ballyboden St Enda’s and a chance to make even more history.

They might be slight underdogs, but if they can follow up on the Nemo and London wins with a repeat performance, they have every right to be confident of toppling the Dublin and Leinster champions.

“It had definitely been stressed to us that in [Tir Chonaill's] eyes, we were a Tipperary side coming over instead of Munster club champions,” Quinlivan says.

“It was obviously going to be an issue for us as they were confident they could turn us over. We knew if we put in a performance that we could come away, and I thought a lot of our younger guys were super on the same day.

He adds: “I don’t think there is any hiding place now anyway any more. We have announced ourselves at this stage having beaten Nemo and gone away to London and done that as well.

“We play a style of football that is our own. It’s actually pretty similar to Nemo’s and a lot of people saw that in the game. We’ll try and impose that on Ballyboden and whether or not that works, we’ll see and try and nullify them as well.”

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