Imokilly v Sarsfields: Denis Ring praises sacrifices of divisional players

When Imokilly’s senior players met Denis Ring in the hope that he would enter into a second stint as manager of the divisional team, he found it hard to say no.

Having previously been in charge back in 2003, Ring’s second coming in the east has brought Imokilly to Sunday’s Co-op SuperStores Premier SHC final against Sarsfields in SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh (4.15pm).

That the leaders of the group were the ones encouraging him to return gave him an insight into the levels of commitment among the players. In addition, the streamlined championship format now is in contrast to how things were two decades ago.

“We beat Na Piarsaigh in the fourth round,” Ring says, “Newtownshandrum beat us in the quarter-final – they went on to win the county, Munster, and All-Ireland.

“Ronan Dwane was the coach and I did one year with it. At the time, I was involved doing Harty Cup with St Colman's and so on. I was quite busy. The limited involvement kind of suited me. It was nothing really like it is now in terms of the consistency or the buy-in. Back then, it was quite random as to when you might have them. I enjoyed it that time.

“I am involved with building a €26m school [Blackwater CS in Lismore, where he is principal] the last three or four years, and the Imokilly job kind of appealed to me more than others because you are not three nights a week all the time.

“It is nice to be involved, they are good lads. I was to get involved a few times and I refused it, to be honest.

“Then the senior group of players came to me and, when you are in a room with Brian Lawton, Ciaran O'Brien, Harnedy, Will Leahy, Bill Cooper and these fellas, and they are asking you to do it, first of all it is a fair privilege and, secondly, it suddenly becomes very hard to turn down.

“They are good athletes, good lads, who I have never met the likes of before. I've worked with a lot of guys over the years.

“I’ve been lucky enough to win six Hartys and three All-Irelands at colleges level, but I've never met a bunch of individuals as impressive as these guys. They are really committed guys who are extremely passionate, very serious about what they do, and they are really a club side.

“They are not what I would have perceived to have been a division last time around. They weren't that together at the time. These guys aren't a division; they don't certainly think like a division.”

Of course, strictly speaking they are a division and Imokilly’s three-in-a-row from 2017-19 led to some discomfort in Cork hurling circles as regards the benefits they enjoy.

Ring, a native of Cloughduv, maintains that it is not all plain sailing.

“I think, sometimes, people think that divisional teams have advantages and so on and so forth,” he says.

“I think, from an Imokilly perspective, there’s a great tradition in Imokilly, they love their division. The divisions have been hugely important, they have contributed massively to the county over the years.

“You don’t just go with your Séamie Harnedys, Ciarán Joyce, Brian Lawton and these fellas, but going back over the years – Diarmuid O’Sullivan, Paudie O’Sullivan, Seánie O’Leary, all these guys. There’s a massive tradition there, which I think is very important to Cork.

“Sometimes, people look at the potential advantages a division has, but don’t understand fully the sacrifices players have to undergo to be available five, six, seven nights a week.

“It would be easy not to be, and other divisions struggle to do that and colleges struggle to do that. I think that the lads deserve an enormous amount of credit for the commitment that that entails.

“It’s very reassuring then, to see the lads from Ita’s – three [Séamus Harnedy, Ciarán O’Brien and Darragh O’Brien] finished against the Rockies, three finished against Fr O’Neills – and you see the fellas from Cobh, we have Timmy [Wilk] and Diarmuid [Kearney] in the squad as well. We have nine from the junior A ranks – if you look at the rankings, that’s the sixth tier, so there’s a long way to go to play premier senior.

“It’s good that players and clubs get an opportunity to perform at that level.”

So far, the quality in their ranks has seen them past Avondhu, Muskerry, Fr O’Neills and Blackrock – a first final since 2019. Last year, they were on the verge of the decider but a late goal in the semi-final from Sarsfields’ Luke Elliott forced extra time, which the Riverstown club won.

“That hurt, big-time, for us,” Ring says.

“Sars deserved to win – we can’t say other than that. They ran up a very big lead early on and what we were disappointed with was that we conceded a lot and then did an awful lot to put ourselves in a good position, three or four minutes into injury time.

“We got caught with a sucker goal and, in fairness to Sars, they kept going and kept going and pushed it on. Once it went into extra time, we were going to be struggling big-time – with the workload of the loads in the preceding day and two nights, it was always going to be difficult.

“From our point of view, it hurt, it stung. Winter suddenly becomes very dark and long and it was particularly dark and long for us last year after that.”

And now, Sars – the holders of the Seán Óg Murphy Cup – stand in their way again. Ring is an admirer of the opposition but doesn’t feel that last year’s result is needed as fuel for the fire.

“It’s interesting that we’re both back there again,” he says.

“It shows that it’s probably going to be very tight, it’s going to be very close again. I suppose, in itself, we shouldn’t need that as a motivation – it’s a county final and anybody who’s not motivated for a county final, there’s something wrong with them.

“Diarmuid O’Sullivan has made a big difference to their set-up as well, their backline, and Johnny Crowley obviously has been successful with them.”

“We have massive respect for Sars. I think that they’re a very good hurling team and I love the way they play and I love the way they apply themselves.”