Castlelyons selector Brendan Hoare: It's just a brilliant feeling

CASTLELYONS selector Brendan Hoare didn’t show any emotion after the Cork champions claimed the Munster IHC title at the weekend, but deep down he was a very satisfied character as the East-Cork side claimed provincial silverware for the first time since 1998, which was also at the intermediate grade.

“It’s just a brilliant feeling right now,” says Hoare.

“At the start of the year the plan was to take it game by game and to have won the county and now Munster is just surreal. I suppose it worked out well that there was a five-week gap from the county success to the semi-final and we just came together and we decided as a group that we were really going to go after this. It’s one thing to say you’re going to go after it but to do it is another thing. The player's application right from the off was brilliant. Our preparation couldn’t have gone any better so it’s great to just get over the line.” 

Castlelyons bagged three goals in the first-half, scored by one man, Anthony Spillane, as the match was pretty much all over at the break as the Cork side led 3-11 to 0-8. Despite Corofin rallying in the second-half, it was the fast start that was key for the Imokilly outfit.

“We did a lot of research on Corofin and in every single game this season they had started like a house on fire, so we knew it was so important that we were on the front foot from the off. We didn’t start well in the semi-final against Crotta O’Neill’s, I know we were against the wind, but we knew we couldn’t start slow in this one. We played some superb hurling in that opening 30 minutes. Corofin did have a good spell in the second-half, they battled for everything out there, which we expected, but we kept a clean sheet which was another thing that we targeted.

“On a personal level, I celebrated when the full-time whistle blew when we beat Kilworth in the county final, as it was more relief than anything else. This evening we left the players celebrate out on the pitch. The lads deserve it, they are a very tight group. Our squad depth is what has got us over the line.” 

The video analysis session was pushed back a good few days after Castlelyons won the county back in October, but it won’t be pushed back on this occasion given they are playing Mayo’s Tooreen in the All-Ireland semi-final in just under two weeks’ time.

“We will certainly enjoy the next day or so, but we will be back training on Tuesday as it’s a quick turnaround, out now in two weeks. We really want to add another trophy to the cabinet. We are nearly into Christmas and we are still hurling, it’s fantastic.”