Pictures: Excitement builds as Cork clubs get set to roar on the Rebels in final

With a total of 33 Cork Senior Hurling championship titles to their name, Blackrock Hurling Club has consistently throughout the years produced talented hurlers for inter county level.

Without question, the standout name from Blackrock that is set to feature for Cork in the All-Ireland final on Sunday is Alan Connolly, who has developed a reputation for being one of the most clinical attackers in the country.

Robbie Cotter is another Blackrock man on this 2025 Cork panel. The Rockies also are represented on the Cork hurling management team, with 1999 All-Ireland winner Wayne Sherlock on board as part of Pat Ryan’s management team.

Current Blackrock club senior hurling manager Jamie Harrington will watch on with pride hoping his club players Connolly and Cotter can secure All-Ireland winning medals on Sunday with the Rebels.

“We are very proud of them. They are exceptional Blackrock people as well as Cork people.”

Blackrock Hurling PRO Conor Hurley, who has also coached Connolly and Cotter at the club, said: “Alan and Robbie came up through our nursery and academy here. We are delighted to provide the structures, the facilities and the coaching for them.

“But ultimately those guys are elite because of the practice and the thousands of hours they put in on their own.”

Mr Hurley added on Connolly and Cotter: “They are always down the club. When the Blackrock seniors are playing at the moment during the league, they are watching and still in the dressing room.

“They are still part of the setup. It is brilliant that they can bring back their experience and elite setup back from Cork to the club.”

In St Vincent’s GAA Cúl Camps, the excitement was mounting for Sunday’s game also.

Daniel Murphy from Shanakiel who explained to The Echo that a bus full of supporters are to set off from the club to travel to Croke Park.

Dressed head to toe in his Cork gear, Daniel was undeterred by bad weather earlier in the week with no rain getting in the way of his big week of hurling, he said: “I have been here at the Cúl Camp all week because I am a hurling mad fan.”

It will be a family affair weekend for the Murphy family of Shanakiel, with Daniel saying: “I am going up to Dublin with my mam, my dad and my sister.

“My dad found it hard to get tickets, but he managed to get one the other day. Just in time. St Vincent’s are sending a bus up and that is how we are travelling. I’ll be singing all the way to Dublin.”

Diarmuid Healy is a firm favourite for the Northsider, with Mr Murphy explaining; “I think the way that he joined the team this year and the way that he adjusted, there could be more people like him coming in next year too.”

Abigail Keneally from Hillcrest added: “It was very hard to get tickets so I am going to watch the match at home.

“I like watching the hurling and camogie because it is cool that maybe one day I can be like that. I have never been to Croke Park but maybe one day I will play there. Amy O’Connor is someone I look up to.”

Coach Kieran has seat booked on the club bus to Dublin: “I am heading up myself on the bus. It was hard for people to get tickets, I didn’t get one last year but I have one this year, and I’m better off because this year we are winning.”