All-Ireland Junior Hurling final: Eoin Davis and St Catherine's ready for last step

Like so many goalkeepers, Eoin Davis started out as an outfielder.

As is often the way at under-age, he was pressed into action for the age above. Then, when he earned a spot in the Cork minor team between the sticks, the move was set in stone.

The holder of an All-Ireland U20 medal from the 2020 season, Davis will look to an AIB All-Ireland Club JHC title to the cabinet tomorrow evening when St Catherine’s take on Kilkenny’s Tullogher-Rosbercon at Croke Park (5pm).

It has been an unusual journey – not least because the Ballynoe club lost the county Premier JHC decider to Erin’s Own – but Davis outlines how they have gone step by step.

“At the start of the year, getting to a county final wasn’t the main aim,” he says.

“We were in Division 4 of the league with a lot of premier intermediate and intermediate A teams, so the main goal was to stay in that.

“Then, hitting championship, we had a couple of good results in the group and the one-point win over Russell Rovers then drove us into the semi-final against Glen Rovers.

“We got over the line there and then obviously we fell flat in the county final, which was very disappointing. We took the attitude that the first game in the Munster championship against Ardmore was a chance to get back on the horse rather than waiting until a league game in March.

“We tried to get on a roll again and, luckily enough, we’ve ended up where we are.”

Having lost to Erin’s Own by two points – and losing star attacker Daniel Mangan to a cruciate injury – Catherine’s could have wilted. Instead, they made sure to bounce back.

“We sat down and discussed it,” Davis says.

“It didn’t all go wrong – there were only two points in it at the end of the day.

“We discussed it and analysed it and took our learnings from it. We decided that we were going to give the Munster championship a crack, beginning with the Ardmore match, and we just pushed on from there.

We’ve used a lot of young players. There are 13 or 14 on the U21 panel, they were beaten in the East Cork final, and if you look at the rest of the team, there are 10 of us under 25.

“That’s a good foundation for years to come and the approach we took for the Munster championship was to try to push on another bit.”

MAJOR MOVE

Davis has more than played his part in getting there. While the long-range free-taking has yielded points, his primary duties are carried out to a high standard.

“Growing up under-age, I was a centre-back initially and then I went up to the forwards,” he says. “When I was 13 or 14, I was thrown in goal for the U16s but it wasn’t until I was minor that I played in goal at my own age for Catherine’s.

“It did take some time for me to enjoy it but ultimately it’s where I can offer the most to the team, which is what it’s all about.”

Even in the space of a decade or so wielding the hurley with the bigger bas, the PwC employee has seen a lot of change.

“It has, definitely,” he says.

When I started off, it was about sending the puck-out long, being safe on the ball and not going looking for it.

“Now, it has completely changed. You’re almost a playmaker or quarterback, use the puckout as a restart rather than getting the ball up the field. You’re retaining possession and the backs are sending the ball back to you, so it is a lot different.”

On Saturday, he will be trying to do those things on the biggest GAA stage. It’s a challenge he’s looking to embrace.

“There was a bit of talk before the county final about the Páirc Uí Chaoimh factor as most fellas hadn’t played there before,” he says.

“Croke Park is bigger than Páirc Uí Chaoimh but it’s a similar setting and we’re going to try to use that experience and take it with us.

“We haven’t discussed it but we haven’t not discussed it, either. Everyone dreams of playing in Croke Park and it’s great to get there with your club and your friends.”