Glen Rovers stormed back to Premier Senior ranks: Plans for 2025 start now

In conditions where garden furniture everywhere seemed in mortal danger, Glen Rovers did the needy to ensure that they are back where they belong, in the top-tier of Cork club hurling, after an impressive victory over Blarney in the Senior A final at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Sunday.

Cork hurling fans would have liked a classic, that was nip and tuck from start to finish, but the wind ensured that it was always going to be the proverbial game of two halves.

There were a number of noteworthy performers for the northsiders, but the contribution of Glen captain Dean Brosnan has to be noted. 

It probably wasn’t the greatest game of his Glen career, as he was out of the action for spells, but he had a real knack of stepping up at just the right moments for his side in this decider.

With the gale force wind in the first half, the Glen had raced into a nine-point advantage, as Patrick Horgan’s quickfire goal and a point meant they led by 1-7 to 0-1 after eighteen minutes. The scores dried up for the northside city side at that juncture, however, with excellent scores from Eoghan Kirby and Shane Barrett reducing the gap to just seven.

Step up Brosnan, as he rifled over two key scores in the 25th and 30th minutes to ensure the half-time lead was a healthy 10 points, as, given the strength of the wind, it felt like that type of lead was required.

There was no Blarney onslaught initially after half-time, but Glen fans would certainly have been getting twitchy after Cian Barrett had a huge 60 seconds in the 47th minute to firstly set up Cathal McCarthy for an excellent goal, before then almost immediately robbing Rob Downey to pinch a point for himself.

Suddenly the gap had been reduced from eleven to seven, and Blarney were on a roll, and with the weather supporting their revival you felt that they were going to get themselves within range of completing the comeback.

Step up Brosnan once more, as he clipped over a superb individual score in the 52nd minute to push the gap back out to six, and he repeated the trick four minutes later to again push Blarney back out to the half-dozen.

Those four points were all real captain efforts, with all coming at crucial times for the Glen.

REGRET

Blarney will regret not being able to get Padraig Power into the game more. He was well marshalled by Eoin Downey, and did not get a chance to run at Cathal Hickey’s goal until the 53rd minute, when he turned sharply and blasted a shot just over the crossbar. 

He would add a second point nine minutes later, in injury time, but by then the Glen had registered a brilliant 1-3 without reply to guarantee victory.

The use of the wind was always going to be a major player in deciding which of the two finalists would step up to Premier Senior level in 2025. 

And ultimately it was the Glen who used the weather better. A clear indicator of this is the fact that they led by 10 at half-time and were the same margin up by the time they heard the final whistle.

When playing with elements of that strength you really want to get on a roll early and in the first half, the Glen raced ahead, as they led by nine after only 18 minutes. 

Contrast this to Blarney’s use of the wind, as they needed a pointed Shane Barrett free in the 13th minute of the second half just to get back level for the half, which meant they were still those 10 points behind at that juncture.

They did manage to get the margin down to an interesting five-point margin by the 49th minute, after a sublime individual Mark Coleman score, but they were always chasing, and with players of the class of Brosnan on show, the Glen were never going to stand still either.

Substitute Lee Quilligan put the icing on the cake with his late 1-1 salvo, but it was Brosnan and co who had put them in the hot seat.