Erin's Own manager Martin Bowen unhappy with performances after relegation 

WITH the Cork RedFM Hurling League Division 1 fixtures reaching their conclusion on Sunday June 25th, results went against Erin’s Own, who have now been relegated to Division 2 for the 2024 campaign.

Though it was a very disappointing result that marked the end of a poor league campaign for Erin’s Own, their focus has to quickly switch to the upcoming Premier Senior Hurling Championship, where they face Douglas in the opener on August 5th in Páirc Uí Rinn.

Erin’s Own manager Martin Bowen expressed his disappointment with the result in his post-match interview, where he told the Echo; “Sure look, they were better than us, full stop.

“We got an absolute hiding. Fr O’Neill’s are a good team, but it’s useless, you can’t say anything when you’re getting beaten like that, you just have to suck it up and drive on.” 

When asked on whether their relegation and poor form in the league will affect their championship preparations, Martin replies, “I suppose today doesn’t impact anything in regard to our approach to championship. We always knew that Fr O’Neill’s were going to be a tough team.

“We’ve had a lot of injuries, we’ve had guys going away,” says Bowen. “we’ll give it our best shot now over the next five weeks. We’ll have to do it when it counts [in championship]. Douglas is our first match, and we got an awful hiding from them in the league as well.”

Though it’s certainly been a very difficult season so far for Erin’s Own, Martin remains hopeful in the future of the team, and believes that the progression of the team's young players can continue to be a key feature of his Erin’s Own side.

“We’ve a few good young lads coming in. There are four or five good young lads there that have been playing for most of the league, and they’re players for the future. I have no doubt that they’re going to be very good senior hurlers in time to come.

“Matty [O’Riordan] has been playing very well for us all the time, and Peter O’Shea is another good young lad, then in corner-back you’ve Tiernan O’Connell, and with Shane Irwin then in corner-forward, they’re all very good players, and they’re willing to learn. They’re willing to work hard, [so]we just have to be patient with them and give them every chance they can get.” 

Martin also discusses their Division 1 campaign as a whole, and what issues have plagued the team so far.

“I suppose there was a few games, we probably should have won the Carrigtwohill game, we probably should have won the Kanturk game. We got a few hidings then in a few of the games,” he says. “The league is there, it is very useful, it’s a very good league. 

"It’s great with the way that it’s structured, and at the end of the day we’d be disappointed with the results because we feel we should do better, but inconsistency has been a huge problem for us, and we need to eradicate that now as we move towards championship.”