Muskerry football heading in right direction

This year saw the Muskerry Senior Football team make significant progress in the Cork Premier Senior Football Championship.

Muskerry made it to the quarter-finals of the PSFC where they were defeated by Mallow, but overall it was a fruitful campaign for the divisional side.

Speaking to The Echo, Muskerry manager Conor Hurley reflected on the campaign just gone by.

“I really enjoyed it. Myself, Ricky (Leisk), John (Quill), and Diarmuid (O’Riordan). They are good lads to work with and they put as much into it as I did.

“I think ultimately with Muskerry it is a bit different to a club side. There is a little less hands-on work involved. But you are getting to work with some extremely good footballers from all over Mid-Cork.

“It is a lovely honour to be asked to be involved by the Muskerry board.

“Danny Buckley had done some very good work to get Muskerry back going last year. We were very fortunate that Muskerry has a lot of good players, a lot of premier intermediate and intermediate A clubs and good junior A clubs.

“We were looking at the closing stages of a lot of the football championship this year where there were Muskerry clubs involved, which was great to see.” Hurley adds.

“I think, probably mixed emotions really. On the one hand there was huge progress made with winning the Tadhg Crowley Cup in terms of winning the Colleges/Divisional section of the competition. But I think possibly a missed opportunity against Mallow, when we were down a number of players.

It is a hard one to answer because we would have liked to have gone further. But at the same time, we have had a good enough year I guess.”

From the outset, Muskerry set their stall out.

In the McCarthy Insurance Group Premier SFC Divisions/Colleges semi-final, the Mid Cork outfit recorded a one-point victory over Carbery at 1-15 to 1-14.

In the decider, Muskerry came out on top to claim the Tadhg Crowley Cup for the first time, following a 3-13 to 2-15 win over Duhallow.

"I think that was a really nice moment for the players and everybody involved, including the board who put a lot of effort into making sure we had everything we needed.

“It was lovely that it was in Macroom. It was a nice occasion on the night. It was the first time Muskerry have captured the Tadhg Crowley Cup, so it was special and I think we were fortunate in that.

“Some lads got to experience their first taste of senior football this year, so you’d hope that will stand in good stead into the future."

Muskerry had a number of impressive performers on the night, such as Cork senior Chris Óg Jones and the likes of captain Eoghan Lehane.

There is plenty of talent for sure in the Mid Cork region, and that is without the contingent of senior A clubs Béal Áthan Ghaorthaidh and Cill Na Martra.

A glance at the clubs that the players from the Muskerry side play for highlights the reasonably healthy place that football in the division is currently in.

The PJFC final saw neighbours from the same parish face off, with Kilmurry claiming the bragging rights.

UPWARD

While players also come from other clubs including Iveleary, who have been on an upward trajectory this decade and Macroom, who will hope there are bigger and better days ahead after their recent Tom Creedon Cup success.

“All of the clubs responded very well and I think they enjoyed all playing together. It was great to see,” Hurley outlines on the buy-in from the clubs and players this year.

“We didn’t do much preparation at all. We had the opinion that we have a lot of strong football clubs in Muskerry. There are some very good coaches involved in those clubs and they were keeping lads ticking along.

“When a lot of these teams are training three nights a week already, trying to squeeze an extra session in is just not really possible.

Following a productive few months, Muskerry will hope this is a springboard and that the divisional side can see continued progress over the coming years.

“You’d hope Muskerry can build going forward from 2024 and get better and get stronger,” Hurley said.