Whitechurch's hurling year has been remarkable - and it could get better 

Whitechurch’s triumph in the AOS Security Seandún Junior A Hurling Championship final was a long time coming, and it marked their first ever junior A title.

After three final defeats, it’s huge for the club.

1997, 2019 – and of course last year’s loss to eventual county champions Nemo Rangers. Despite falling short last year, it was clear they were building towards something.

This year that bore fruit. It was certainly dramatic, but Whitechurch got over the line – something that meant so much to the club and coach Garry Gray.

The former Sarsfields hurler joined manager Mickey Mullins and Barry Egan to spearhead the team this season, and 2024 has already exceeded expectations.

“It was this time last year I went up to meet them,” Gray begins. “We sat down – the first sole objective was to win the league. We got to the semi-final, Blackrock beat us in that.

“The next goal was the McCurtain Cup, we managed to win that cup.

“The third goal then was to win the city, and we’ve done that.

“Now, the fourth goal is to give the county a rattle, or go as best as we possibly can.

“When I was talking to the players last year and the executive, if I told them November 12 months’ time that we’d be in a county quarter-final they would have laughed at me.” 

But they are here. They made history. And they deserve this history.

“They're a great hurling club, a great community, a great parish,” Garry remarks. “There’re good players there. You obviously have Micheál Mullins, you have Mark Callanan, young Jamie Hegarty.

“Then you've a couple of the mainstays like Brian O'Sullivan, Dylan Burke, Sean Keane. 

It was just about going up and getting the mix right.

They did just that.

“We beat the Barrs in the first round, then we played a local Derby against White’s Cross and we beat them,” he says. “Then we played Blackrock, and incidentally, [Micheál] Mullins got sent off in that game. We played all of the second-half bar three minutes of it without him.” 

ASSURANCE

Mullins is of course Whitechurch’s standout hurler. 

The two-time All-Ireland U20 Hurling Championship winner captained Cork to the county’s most recent success in 2023.

Reduced to 14, without their best player – many teams would fall short when faced with that, but Whitechurch didn’t.

“It was a super win in that way, playing with 14 men and to beat Blackrock.” With Mullins sidelined for the decider through suspension – again, many teams would have fallen short.

Again, Whitechurch didn’t.

Though they certainly made it difficult for themselves.

“To be honest, [it seemed] we did everything in our power to throw away the game against Passage,” he admits. “They went down to 13 men. It was 15 v 13 and we did absolutely everything in our power [to lose it].

“But that was just down to the fact they’re not used to winning titles. Whitechurch were a sleeping giant in my opinion, and it was just about getting over the line. Now they’re into the unknown and it's bonus territory.” 

Their city final win saw the team finish with a scoring spread of 10 different players, and so now they step into the unknown. Again, without their star player Micheál Mullins.

Whether they can go all the way or not, it will be a learning experience for the team, just as their extra-time victory over Passage was.

“We're going into unknown waters and we've nothing to lose. We just finished training tonight [Monday], we played an in-house game and fellas are hopping. We are going well.

It’s a free shot, we’ve nothing to lose.

“We're taking everything as it comes, but as all teams inside in the county now, the realistic target is to try and win it. We are under no illusions that it’s a mammoth task without Mullins. We're hoping for the best, and we might get a bit of luck!”