John Horgan: Watergrasshill and Russell Rovers have firepower to conquer Munster

IT wasn't that long ago that small clubs, mostly rural could only dream of competing on the provincial and All-Ireland stages.

It was former GAA president, Sean Kelly, among his many achievements, who introduced a provincial and All-Ireland competition for clubs competing in junior and intermediate grades and who were unlikely to ever be elevated to senior level.

That has happened, of course, for some clubs but the graduation process to get there is very difficult.

Being the best club team in your province and subsequently on the All-Ireland stage is a massive achievement for the players who have accomplished that feat at those levels and for those hoping to do so in the future.

Whilst Cork's record in the senior club championship has been fairly dismal in recent times the opposite has been the case in the two lower grades where a number of clubs have been successful at provincial and All-Ireland level.

Plying their trade in some of the great GAA stadiums around the country has been a highlight of many players' careers and this weekend it will come to pass for Watergrasshill when they take on Cashel King-Cormacs at the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick in the Munster Club IHC final.

Here on our own doorstep, Russell Rovers will tackle Waterford's Kilrossanty in the junior final at Páirc Uí Rinn.

The Shanagarry-based club already tasted success at provincial level and going all the way into Croke Park for an All-Ireland final where they lost to Conahy-Shamrocks from Kilkenny in 2019. 

Having Sarsfields competing against Ballygunner in the senior final and the other two on the glory trail as well represents a very fine achievement for Cork clubs because even getting into a final is no easy task.

Watergrasshill's opponents from Cashel in Tipperary might be known to the older generation as they were involved in the senior grade and being successful in it back in 1991 when they defeated Midleton in a very low-scoring final, 0-9 to 0-6 with a team that contained the Bonnar brothers, Cormac, Colm and Conal.

BONUS

At the outset of any hurling season in any county the only priority is to try and be on the podium on the final day. That achievement makes the season a great success and anything thereafter has a club in bonus territory.

Here on Leeside as we have stated so many times in the past, the PIHC is one of the most difficult of all competitions to win.

That's not saying the other grades are not but the playing field is so level at Premier Intermediate level, it makes it all that bit more difficult. And the introduction of the group stage has made it even more so.

Over the past couple of months, Watergrasshill have more than proved themselves as Cork's best and were worthy winners over Clare's Wolfe Tones in the Munster semi-final.

They are unbeaten in championship hurling this year and are now ready for the biggest test of the lot, a Munster final appearance against an opponent from Tipperary, something that always adds that bit extra.

When they trailed Carrigaline by 10 points in their opening group game in the Cork championship thoughts of being in a provincial final must have been a million miles away.

And maybe that's when it all started to come together, reinventing themselves in that game to come out on top by a meagre margin which must have instilled into them a great belief that all is never lost.

Eddie Enright is a Tipperary man now doing a wonderful job as team coach in the Hill alongside some club greats like Noel O'Riordan. Nothing has come easy in any of their games thus far but they have always been able to find a way with a very well-balanced side.

At half-time in the county final, against Carrigline again, they trailed by a point but a strong last quarter had them residing in the winner's enclosure.

There is a very strong spine to this Hill team from long-serving goalkeeper Aidan Foley out.

Dáire O'Leary has put himself firmly in the Cork defensive frame and up front Sean Desmond and Adam Murphy are securing the big scores and against Wolfe-Tones they performed very well on Clare senior players, Darragh Lohan and Rory Hayes.

Now comes what is very likely going to be the toughest task of all against the Tipperary men who have impressed in their own way.

The Bonnar name features again in this team with Ross at left corner-forward while Devon Ryan and David McGrath were among their 10 scorers in the Munster semi-final against Abbeydorney.

The likelihood is that whoever emerges here will end up in Croke Park later in the year and that's a big incentive in itself.

Winter hurling always asks bigger questions but the 'Hill are proven and battle-hardened campaigners going into this showdown in what is a massive occasion for a club that has been responding positively both on and off the field in recent years.

FANCIED

To Russell Rovers, another small but hugely proud club who have already tasted the sweet smell of success in this arena a couple of years ago, defeating St Mary's from Waterford in 2019.

The experience of that momentous occasion will be an energiser this time against another Waterford representative in Kilrossanty. 

And with Donal Óg Cusack doing an excellent job alongside team boss, Dave Dorgan they are probably the more fancied side, all the more so given the experience of Josh Beausang and Bud Hartnett alongside Ciarán Sheehan in front of goal.

For the Hill and the team from Shanagarry, these are the days of their hurling lives, days to be cherished in a competition that all clubs across the country owe Sean Kelly an awful lot for.

Finally, this week we tuned into TG4 last Saturday for another enthralling hurling game in the Leinster club SHC between Westmeath's Castletown-Geoghegan and Offaly champions, Kilcormac-Killoughey.

It was a very intense and a fascinating physical battle right to the end, again illustrating that the best games of the year can often transpire in the winter months in the provincial club championships across the country.

We have had a few now in the past fortnight up in Ulster and in Leinster.

The win for Kilcormac was another illustration of the upward trajectory that Offaly hurling is moving in. And the clinching score was delivered by one of the country's best, young players, Adam Screeney.

It's getting very late in the season but the game of hurling continues to enthrall us with every passing week.

Let's hope there's more to come this weekend.