Premier SHC: Sarsfields' Aaron Myers happy to be home after American trip

Having won a first county Premier SHC medal last year as Sarsfields ended a nine-year wait, Aaron Myers felt his itchy feet needed to wander.

However, while he and Seán Walsh from Carrigtwohill left in April and spent part of the summer hurling for Galway Boston, the lure of home – and the chance to help Sars win back-to-back titles for the first time – meant Myers was back in situ for the beginning of the championship.

Such is the strength in depth available to Johnny Crowley and his management, though, Myers – second-highest scorer in last year’s campaign with 2-51 across six matches – has only been used from the bench.

It’s something he was aware might happen, but he’s happy to help the retention effort however he can. Next up for Sars is Sunday’s semi-final against Midleton (3.45pm), a repeat of last year’s final.

“I kind of had my mind made up last year that I was going to do it [travel],” Myers says.

“Those thoughts would obviously creep into your mind too that you are going to lose your place, especially with the panel Sars have. Coming back and seeing the league final and everyone was hoping that night, I knew it would be a long road to try and break back into the 15.

“There are four or five lads there on the bench that could be in or might not be in, we don't know. Everyone pushes each other.

“It takes a while [to get up to speed] because there is a different intensity out there, compared to here. Different culture and stuff, a lot more freedom too, whereas here it is a lot more intense. It takes a month or so to get your head back into it.”

After going 51 years without lifting the Seán Óg Murphy Cup, Sars then won four in seven between 2008 and 2014. In that light, a nine-year drought felt quite long, especially for Myers, who joined the panel as a 20-year-old in 2017.

“It probably felt a lot longer than nine years in our group,” he says.

“It’s Bit of a monkey off the back alright, different tag now carrying the champions [tag] on our back this year.

“For a good few years there, we were coming up short in the tight games when it was knockout. To be able to come through them last year and then be able to win the championship, it could stand to us a lot this year – knowing how to win.

“For years, we weren't winning any knockout games. To finally go all the way last year, we definitely gained a lot of confidence from that. This is our first knockout game of the year on Sunday so we'll find out more then.”

While Midleton have the benefit of a testing quarter-final against Newtownshandrum, this is Sars’ first game since topping their group comprising Newtown, Douglas and Bishopstown. A scoring difference of +39 earned them top seeding and a semi-final bye.

The last time they bypassed the quarter-finals, in 2021, they lost to Glen Rovers in the last four and so learning from that experience will be key.

“It was one of our targets at the beginning of the year to get straight to the semi-finals,” Myers says, “and we reached that target.

“But we always took a lot of learnings from 2021. In the group that year, we were firing on all cylinders. Then we had a gap, while the Glen, with 14 men, came through a tough quarter-final against Imokilly. They were just more at it on the day. We got caught.

“It’s about ramping up the training, really; in-house games, challenge games, to keep that tempo within the group.”