'Special' county success for Castlehaven's Michael Hurley after challenging season with injury 

After being plagued by an injury once again this year, this latest county success is a sweet one for Michael Hurley.

The forward contributed handsomely to Castlehaven’s McCarthy Insurance Group Premier SFC final victory as they defeated Nemo Rangers on a scoreline of 0-16 to 0-11 at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Sunday evening. The Haven retained the Andy Scannell trophy.

After a quiet semi-final performance against St Finbarr’s two weeks ago albeit not being fully fit, Hurley was on song on Sunday, hitting 0-4, all from play. 

The 28-year-old had a challenging championship season. He went off after 23 minutes due to an ankle injury against St Michael's in the second group game before coming on for a minute in the following game against Carbery Rangers. He was then taken off just after the break against the Barrs without getting a score. His brother Brian was on fire the same day, landing eleven points.

“It’s special to be honest, really special,” he says on winning the county again. 

"Look, I didn't have a lot of football played. I don't think I was sharp against the Barrs. I probably wasn't as fit as I would have liked. Confidence was low I guess. That comes with not playing football. I was fairly hard on myself after the Barrs game. Obviously it is a team sport and we got the win, but I went back to the drawing board and had a look at my own performance. I think I learned a few things from that game. You have to hold yourself accountable and have a good respect for the other lads.

“I feel very grateful. We have had an awful lot of disappointing moments since the 2013 county win. Last year was obviously special but we are delighted that it wasn’t just a once off. I am proud to be part of this group.

“Seanie [Cahalane, manager] is a brilliant man. He isn’t long retired, he’s still fairly young so there’s great respect there for him. We will have to mention James McCarthy, the work obviously didn’t happen this year and not even last year. It came together last year, but this has been building for the last seven or eight years and James was there for most of it.” 

This year’s decider was a repeat of the final 12 months ago. Last year’s scoreline was 0-11 to 0-9, but it was a much more enjoyable contest this time around with some quality scores. Hurley's 0-4 on Sunday was the same tally that he also scored in last year's decider. 

"I said last year that it is not about me. Jack [Cahalane] got man of the match today, but it is not about the individuals, it is a team sport we play and that is why we are here. I think it comes from our young lads. I've said it to everyone I've met, we have some amazing young lads. They are really, really grounded. Some of them haven't lost a game in the Cork county championship at senior level, so they don't really have a right to be grounded.

"Nemo and the Barrs have had a lot of success in the last ten years. We'd been knocking on the door and being mentioned in a few conversations with them, but this two-in-a-row, and add in our Munster last year, we should be in that conversation as one of the good teams." Hurley concluded.