All-Ireland final feat "unbelievable" for Watergrasshill's Brendan Lehane

What Watergrasshill have achieved in such a short period of time is remarkable.

For several of the Hill’s players including Brendan Lehane, they were only at the semi-final stage of the Cork premier intermediate competition when Imokilly’s victory over Sarsfields ensured a premier senior county to mark the centenary year.

While Watergrasshill have played plenty of hurling since then and excelled while doing so – it's still surreal for Lehane as they complete the final preparations for Croker.

“You only focus on every game as it comes, and that didn’t even enter my mind about playing in an All-Ireland final,” he begins. “Thank God we’re in this situation; it’s just an unbelievable feeling.” While the drawback of keeping your season alive into the following year means there’s little to no break from the hurling – Lehane doesn’t care.

“Training over Christmas and having an All-Ireland final in Croke Park to look forward to in the new year, it’s an unbelievable situation to be in.

“You can’t have any complaints there. We’re really delighted to be in this situation, I’ve absolutely no complaints of training all year around.

Just to get the opportunity, to represent Watergrasshill in an All-Ireland final in Croke Park is unbelievable.

A key factor in why Watergrasshill are still training even after Christmas is the fluidity that Lehane and his teammates Sean Desmond and Adam Murphy have showcased while playing up front, which has been hugely successful.

Though it’s not a brand new phenomenon either.

“It’s always been a thing, for as long as we’ve been playing together this year,” he adds. “We’re all able to play in a few different positions, so it helps that way.

“It’s great to have the freedom of moving in between positions with Seanie and Adam, because they’re serious players as well, but we’ve a well-rounded team.

“We’ve been doing it most of the year, obviously it’s worked well for us.

“It's something we’ve planned all year, obviously we’ve been doing it in training, it works well for us. If one of us is tired, you can go in full-forward, just to get a break.” 

While Watergrasshill have been excellent all season and looked a real force in the postseason, they’ll certainly have their work cut out with Galway champions Tynagh-Abbey/Duniry, who beat Mayo’s Tooreen to win the Connacht title.

FOCUS

“We’re just going to forget about the games we’ve already played.

“The focus is on the task at hand, Tynagh-Abbey/Duniry are in an All-Ireland final for a reason, they’re going to be a serious team. You have to forget the past and forget the games you’ve played.

“You have to be somewhat confident, but Tynagh-Abbey Duniry are going to be a serious outfit,” he remarks. “It will take one of our best performances to get over them, so I think all we can do is go out there and work as hard as possible. Hopefully the result will take care of itself.”