The Munster U20 Hurler of the Year is St Finbarr's Ben Cunningham

THE Munster U20 Hurler of the Year is St Finbarr's Ben Cunningham.

It’s been a fantastic few months for this outstanding young hurler, beginning back in October ’22 as he played a starring role as St Finbarr’s were crowned County Senior Hurling champions beating old rivals Blackrock in the final, and Ben at 19 years of age was named player of the match.

Fast forward to April of this year as Cork began their Munster Under 20 Hurling campaign, and Ben was to be a key player.

Cork went through the group phase unbeaten and faced Clare in the Final and here he delivered a man of the match display as Cork won a thriller 1-23 to 1-21, with Ben hitting 0-9.

It was a similar tally in the All-Ireland Final as Offaly were beaten 2-22 to 3-13 before a huge crowd in Thurles.

In fact Ben finished the Championship with a total score of 2-54 in six games.

Ben also featured with the Cork senior team in the Co-Op Superstores Munster Hurling League and the Allianz Hurling League, and he is a player with a bright future ahead of him in the blue of the ‘Barrs and the ‘red and white’ of Cork.

The Munster club of the year is Cork's Castlehaven. 

At the start of 2023 very, few people would have fancied Castlehaven to win the Munster Club title. 

The senior team set out at the beginning of the season hoping for a good run in the county championship. 

The team started slowly in the group stages but qualified to the knockout stages. They defeated Ballincollig and St Finbarr’s to make the county final. 

The team was improving with every game but now they had a huge challenge playing Nemo Rangers in county final. 

After a titanic battle Castlehaven won the final by two points. This panel of players richly deserved that win as they have been knocking on the door for the last few years.

For the Munster campaign the club wanted to represent Cork with pride. 

In the first round they got over the line after a great game with Cratloe and played great football to beat Rathgormack in the semi-final. The final will be remembered for the weather conditions and the penalty shootout at the end. 

The final against an excellent Dingle team had everything. 

Full of passion and great scores and fine football played in tough conditions. The match could have gone either way, but Castlehaven prevailed after extra time and penalties.

It was heart breaking for Dingle but a mighty win for Castlehaven as they won their fourth Munster title, something the club takes great pride in.

Meanwhile, Jerry Wallace is the new Waterford camogie manager.

Midleton-native Wallace succeeds Seán Power who vacated the post last month after one season at the helm.

Power brought Waterford to a first All-Ireland senior camogie final in 78 years, but their bid for a first All-Ireland crown was ruthlessly dismantled by Cork in a one-sided decider.

Wallace has spent the last number of years shaping the next generation of Cork camogie players, managing the county to four All-Ireland minor final victories since 2019.

Previous to that, Wallace’s CV includes stints as Cork senior hurling coach, Limerick minor coach, and Antrim senior manager.