Tipperary captain Seamus Callanan was reunited after 13 years with the trophy cabinet he made in secondary school to hold the Liam MacCarthy Cup - and it was a dream fit.
Callanan, fresh off leading the Premier County to All-Ireland glory over Kilkenny last month, returned to a hero's reception at St. Joseph's College in Borrisoleigh on Monday.
But he didn't expect to find that his old school had kept his woodwork project from 2006 - a cabinet the young hurler declared would one day hold the most prestigious trophy in hurling.
St. Joseph's Principal Kevin McCarthy told the Irish Mirror: "Seamus was never shy. He was a cheeky cap and he wouldn't have been slow to say 'that's cabinet for Liam McCarthy, I'm putting it in there'."
But the school principal had forgot all about the cabinet until Mr. Halpin approached him one day.
Kevin explained: "The woodwork teacher asked me did I still have that cabinet over in the storage room?
"I said I did. And he said 'that's Seamie's, he made that for the Liam McCarthy Cup for a project in the Leaving Cert.
"I said 'you're kidding me'.
"So we got it out and I said 'I said I'm not sure if it will fit, it looks very small, but sure there's only one way to find out'."
The school of 300 students with 150 boys has the remarkable distinction of being the the home of Tipperary's past two All-Ireland winning captains - Callanan (2019) and Brendan Maher (2016).
And Callanan was joined at the school on Monday by Maher and his Tipp teammate and new staff member of St. Joseph's Dan McCormack.
But the big forward was unaware that his old stomping grounds had a big surprise in store for him.
Kevin told: "We knew that Seamie was doing his first round in his primary school and was coming to us in the afternoon.
"So we hid the cabinet behind the curtain and Brendan, and myself and Dan McCormack brought it up and sure enough the cup fitted perfectly. Straight over the bar. Perfect dimensions!"
Callanan, 30, who is one of the favourites to be named Hurler of the Year, said: "It's a fantastic school and I suppose when you are out of it, you only realise how good it was.
"We had great relationships with a lot of the staff when we were here and we had great help.
"Myself and Brendan [Maher] were hurling together here since first year and all the way up.
"So when we hit the field now, I know that Brendan will always look for me and I'll look for him.
"We have a good connection from all the days we spent starting out in St. Joseph's in Borrisoleigh."
Their former principal said the school always knew that the pair, who have six All-Ireland winners' medals between them, were destined for big things in hurling.
Kevin added: "Both of those lads had great clubs behind them in Drom-Inch (Callanan) and Borrisoleigh (Maher). It was working with easy putty.
"The two of them were gifted and from the same vintage. There would have been a year between of them in school and they played on the same teams.
"To be honest, once they were together they were nearly unstoppable. They could do things beyond their age for a long time - hurling or football. Just pure naturals."
If you haven't already, be sure to like our Irish Mirror Sport and Irish Mirror GAA pages on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
