Kilshannig captain Colm O'Shea: An amazing feeling to be county champions again, it has been some journey

When Colm O’Shea joined the Kilshannig squad six years ago, they lost to Fermoy’s second string in the Avondhu JAFC quarter-final in his first season with the team. 

In 2025, they will be in the senior ranks after claiming three county titles in six seasons with the latest one coming on Sunday after defeating Aghabullogue in the McCarthy Insurance Group PIFC final replay at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

Denis Reen’s team prevailed on a scoreline of 2-10 to 1-9. Key to their win was the outstanding performance from captain O’Shea in his centre-back position resulting in him picking up the Player of the Match award. He also chipped in with two points. A sublime season for the defender.

“It’s an amazing feeling to be county champions again,” he told The Echo post-match.

“It’s great to be back up senior for the first time in over 30 years. Some feeling. You see what it means to the supporters by the scenes after the game. It has all come together over the last few years for us, winning the Junior A in 2019, the Intermediate A in 2022 and now this. 

"The core of the team have all been successful coming up through the underage ranks. We all stuck together as a group. The majority of the team are around the same age, with a few older lads and a few younger lads thrown in.

“To captain the panel inside in that dressing room has been very easy to be honest with you. There has been no one going astray or anything like that, everyone has driven it on. We have an amazing panel. The subs that came on made a difference again today, no one's place is safe. Everyone works well together.

“It has been some journey for all of us. I have personally seen the lows and the highs. Losing to Fermoy’s second team in 2018 and then winning the Junior A county the following year. 2022 was special winning the Intermediate A title, but it was a tough one to take then losing to Bantry in the semi-final last season by a point. This means a lot to us.” 

Aghabullogue had a chance of reeling in Kilshannig when the eventual winners were reduced to 14 players for ten minutes after Bill Curtin’s black card after 41 minutes. There was just four points in it, but when Curtin came back on, it was the same margin. That was the winning of the game for the North Cork team. 

“When we got the black card midway through the second half, we managed the game superbly after that,” the captain said.

“We just held onto the ball for as long as we could without giving it away. I know we didn’t score much in the second half, but we didn’t concede much either. It was all about possession and if you have possession, the opposition can’t score so that was something we worked on at training and it paid off for us today.

“We could have left Aghabullogue back into it during that spell, but we held strong. I know we had a fast start in the game, but that ten-minute spell in the second half was so important.” 

O’Shea has heaped praise on manager Denis Reen, who is in his first season at the helm of the team.

“Denis has done an amazing job. It was a new voice. Not saying last year wasn’t great, but every year has helped us on our way. We have had different coaches who have all brought something different over the years, but Denis brought that extra bit to get us over the line, fair play to him. 

"We will enjoy this one, there will be bodies scattered everywhere I say. We will celebrate hard for two days and then we will focus on the Munster championship with the quarter-final against Rathkeale next Sunday.”