Ballinora's Michael Quirke is the latest Muskerry GAA award winner

The latest EPH Controls/Muskerry GAA Sports award winner is Michael Quirke.

The Ballinora player was an integral figure in the Muskerry club winning the Mid-Cork U21 A football championship title for the first time ever back in February. The team in red and green defeated Naomh Abán in the final on a scoreline of 3-11 to 0-9 as Ballinora got their centenary year off to a great start.

Quirke chipped in with two points in the decider as Ballinora held off a brave fightback from the Ballyvourney-based outfit to win the title which sparked wild celebrations in Ovens. Quirke’s two points from play that day were outstanding, but he did a lot of unseen work. The forward was also excellent in the semi-final win over a Ballincollig side who were going for three-in-a-row in Muskerry. Ballinora won 1-14 to 0-16 in Ballymaw with Quirke hitting 1-2, all from play.

The latest award function took place at the Lee Valley Golf and Country Club in Ovens recently. The forward was privileged to have been picked out as the latest award winner in Mid-Cork as he looks back on a memorable divisional campaign for the Ballinora U21 footballers.

“It’s such an honour for myself and the club, I am delighted,” he says.

“To be honest, I was surprised when I got the call as the competition was so long ago. It was lovely though, a nice surprise but happy at the same time. We always knew we were going to be the underdogs going into the championship. Ballincollig in the semi-final was a straight knockout so we knew it was going to be very tough. We came together as a group and it all came good. We would be a solid group anyway, we would have all grown up together and won trophies.

“It was a disappointment for us last year when we weren’t able to enter the U21 A football championship as our Junior A hurlers were still playing, but we always knew we were good enough for this grade. I was just glad that we were able to show that this year and get over the line.” 

Over the last 20 years, Ballincollig and Éire Óg had dominated this particular championship between them. Prior to this season, you had to go back to 2018 when a club other than Ballincollig and Éire Óg won the divisional championship, which was Kilmurry, so it was a brilliant achievement when Ballinora broke the mould in February. 

They have the county championship coming up towards the end of the year, so they might well lift more silverware this year.

“We weren’t cocky going into the final but we had to be some way confident,” Quirke said.

“We got off to a great start, got a goal early on which gave us a foothold. We had a very slow start to the second half from what I can remember. We were hanging on, Naomh Abán came right back at us, but thankfully we got two late goals to stretch the scoreline. It was a brilliant day and one we certainly won’t ever forget. It meant so much to the people of Ballinora.

“It has been actually hard to put the U21 win to the side and focus on other things. You really wanted to have a push in the county championship straightaway, but that will be starting shortly. We want to do well in it.”