Conor Lehane on Midleton's great run and county final pressure before facing Sars

AS Midleton prepare for a second county final in three years, there’s something about this one. It feels extra special. Flags, bunting, posters, the town is covered with the club colours – black and white.

The senior management team this year is a youthful one. Two of the selectors, Aylwin Kearney and Padraig O’Shea – started and played in their county final win over Sarsfields in 2013, with the latter scoring a point as he captained the side that day.

There was one man who stole the headlines though – rising star Conor Lehane, who was 21 at the time and coming off an incredible season with the Cork seniors.

The forward scored 2-10, the joint highest scoring tally in a single game of the 2013 championship – matching his own 1-13 against Bishopstown.

Now, 31, Lehane is joined by 2013 teammates Luke O’Farrell and Paul Haughney as they look to roll back the years and beat Sars on the 10-year anniversary.

But this year feels different. Not only is the management team youthful, but the squad is too.

Goalkeeper Brion Saunderson, midfielder Mikey Finn and Corner-forward Dave Cremin all featured prominently with the Cork U20s.

Though hampered with injuries, Ciarmhac Smyth and Alex Quirke were also panellists on that Cork team.

Partner that with Cork seniors Lehane, Tommy O’Connell, Sam Quirke, Cormac Beausang and Sean O’Leary-Hayes – that’s 10 players from Midleton between the two Cork teams.

The unity on show in this Magpies team is what catches the eye. They’re one team – senior and intermediate, and that’s a huge factor in why they’ve got two county finals to play this month.

That unity has seen them come back to win on every occasion when they’ve trailed at half time this year, and it was Lehane’s second half performance against the Barrs that stood out in the semi-final.

“The more you can prove to yourself and the team that you can do it, you're a bit more confident going into the second half,” Lehane says. “You really don't want to be relying on that whole time, because all that means is basically that we're not doing it in the first half, so it kind of balances itself out in a way.

“There are teams like Sars that won’t allow that. So having a strong start is just as important, but like I said, it’s a good thing to have mentally in the in the pocket.” It’s been a sharp turnaround from the disappointment of last year, but Conor believes it’s been important to the success of this season.

I think last year was probably a good bit of a humbling, for us to kick start this year.

“I know we didn't go in [this year] expecting to be getting to another final by any stretch of the imagination, but I think it's just the urgency of the whole thing.

“That was purely the players responsibility and I think we readjusted it this year. Last year really stood by us in terms of getting us ready.

“It's so rare to have like two teams like that in the final at the same time. So, you're nearly not sure how to act with it really,” he says. “You're just better off trying to treat things as normal as possible and not overthink it or anything.

“They're two separate games at the end of the day. So, managing that is nearly the hardest part. But it's something that you have to kind of keep reminding yourself of.”