Seán O'Donoghue on Inniscarra's sweet county success and that kick from an impossible angle

2024 has ended on a positive note for Seán O’Donoghue.

After coming so close to captaining Cork to All-Ireland hurling glory in July, O’Donoghue used the disappointment as motivation as he helped Inniscarra lift two trophies.

Traditionally, the Muskerry side have been better known for their hurling exploits but they made huge strides in football this year winning the Ross Oil Mid-Cork JAFC for the first time since 1989 and then going on to win the county after a dramatic one-point victory over Ballygarvan in the final.

O’Donoghue was chosen as the latest EPH Controls/Muskerry GAA award winner with the function taking place at the Lee Valley Golf and Country Club in Ovens. 

“It was a brilliant year for Inniscarra,” he says.

“If you look at it, over the last three seasons, we have only lost two games, Aghinagh in the Mid-Cork semi-final and then Canovee last year in the Mid-Cork final. Overall, we have had a brilliant record in football in recent years. We have been slow and steady.

“My first year on the Inniscarra panel was 2013 and we have had very good footballers over the years. We put it up to Iveleary a good few times and Kilmurry, but could never reach those heights on a regular basis. 

“Daire Holland and his management team came in before the 2022 season and they pulled a lot of what would be dual players but went off focusing on hurling to come back and play football too. It makes a big difference having both codes working well.” 

Inniscarra looked in real trouble with a minute of added time left in the county final two weeks ago. Ballygarvan led by three points before captain John O’Callaghan goaled with extra time then beckoning. Scarra won a free at a very difficult angle with O’Donoghue standing over it, against a slight wind too. The rest is history as they say.

“I had actually taken a few frees at the last training before the game,” the Cork hurler said.

“They had gone well enough and I decided when we won the free right at the end that I would take it from the ground. There was a bit of a wind so it made sense to kick the ball off the ground. I decided to put it down and give it a go. I didn’t want to curl it, just aim a small bit to the right of the right post and try to kick it as straight as I could. 

“I nearly hit it too straight after and it just snuck inside. They all count and that’s the main thing. My first reaction was relief as they were in your ear for the whole game and they would be laughing after missing stuff and all that so it was like, thank God we beat them. What we knew we could do, finally happened.” 

The Muskerry side can look forward to the Premier JFC in 2025. They are pitted against Buttevant, Glenville and Millstreet in Group 3.

“We are out of Junior A and the first aim next year is to stay out of Junior A. We will be coming up against different teams and a chance to test ourselves and push ourselves on more. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t target winning the county next year. Teams from Mid-Cork have done well over the last few years at that grade after coming up. We know that we have it in the locker.”