Ethan Twomey keen to build on promising and educational breakthrough year with Cork

Sunday’s Co-op SuperStores Premier SHC win for St Finbarr’s over Newcestown brought the curtain down on a long hurling season for Cork’s Ethan Twomey.

Sometimes frustrating, generally rewarding is the overall summation of a campaign that saw the midfielder earn a starting spot on Pat Ryan’s team before injury halted his progress though he did come on in the All-Ireland final defeat to Clare.

Then, back with the Barrs, he was forced to sit out the loss to Fr O’Neills that ended their hopes of qualification for the knockout stages. He did, however, return to score a crucial goal as they won on Sunday to alleviate any relegation fears.

Now, the focus turns to football and a must-win clash against Valley Rovers in Coachford on Sunday (4pm). Twomey is glad of the change, albeit still ruing how injuries to himself, Conor Cahalane and Billy Hennessy were costly for the hurlers.

“You’re playing hurling from last November up to July,” he said at the launch of the golf classic that Cork GAA are running on October 4 at Cork GC, as a fundraiser for the senior hurling team’s holiday.

“Then you go back playing football and it’s a breath of fresh air, really.

“It’s going to be tough for any team, really, when you’re missing three or four throughout the championship.

“The depth of your panel is probably the main thing when it comes to the group stages and we were probably a bit unfortunate against Fr O’Neills too.

“We have young fellas coming through who weren’t there even a year or two ago.”

Activity in blue and gold has served as a welcome tonic in trying to get over the All-Ireland defeat.

“I was only saying it to someone in the club recently,” Twomey said, “I’ve barely thought about the final since the county championship started because you’re playing hurling, football nearly every week and your mind is on that.

“Obviously, it creeps in sometimes – you might see TikToks of Clare winning and you’re like, ‘Ah, gutted!’ but it slips away into the back of your head when you’re playing with the club.

“It’s a good distraction.”

Obviously, losing by a point after 90 minutes, as Cork did, is a difficult one to take. Beyond that, though, is the fact that Cork showed character to save their season by beating Limerick in May and then build on that momentum.

“There were obviously positives,” Twomey said, “we played Limerick here [SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh] and we were nearly knocked out and then we won that and won a few more games on the bounce.

“At the end of it, it is disappointing, especially when there’s only a point in it at the end. It’s tight margins.

“It could have gone either way, so it is gutting when you look at it that way, that we were so close.

“When you’re on the bus home, it’s hard. You were expecting it to be class and it’s just completely in the opposite direction!

“The few days after are probably the worst as you’ve gone away from the group. You do feel it then.

“When you’re together in the group, you can almost forget about it at times but then, on the Wednesday or Thursday, you start thinking about it.”

Twomey came on in the second half of the final – while deciders can be nerve-wracking, finding himself immediately immersed in the action helped in that regard.

“It’s moving so fast that you don’t really have time to think or be nervous or anything like that,” he said.

“When you do come in, it’s very high-tempo and you’re just trying to get up to the pace of the game as quickly as possible.

“I thought it was enjoyable, anyway.”

The aim is to get back to such a point and for Twomey to build on what was a good year apart from the injuries. However, they too served as educational tools and he is grateful for the advice imparted by Cork’s physios.

Back in UCC for the final year of a BIS degree – an academic year that will hopefully include a Fitzgibbon Cup debut, denied such an experience by injury the past two seasons – he intends to push on.

“I got a lot of learnings this year,” he said, “in terms of playing and on the injury side, how to deal with it better.

“I learned a lot from the lads, Colm Coakley and Aldo [Matassa]. They’ve helped me a lot in terms of rehab and how to improve in terms of avoiding injury and taking better care of myself.

“That’ll be a big positive going forward, I think. They say that a lot, that you have to make use of the other 22 hours in the day, when you’re not training or playing.

“You have to prioritise sleep and recovery and I’m definitely after buying into that a bit more. I was probably not as professional as I should have been, even when I came in. Definitely, my eyes have been opened now and I’ll know to take better care of myself.”

· Registration for the golf classic is now open for teams of four though tee-times are limited. Interested teams are encouraged to sign up as soon as possible.

The entry fee for a team of four is €1,250, tee-box sponsorship is €350 and a combination of the two costs €1,500.

For more information, please visit www.gaacork.ie/seniorhurlersgolfclassic. Prizes will be awarded for top-performing teams as well as the longest drive and nearest-the-pin winners.