Goal was the only thought on Watergrasshill match-winner Seán Desmond's mind

When the ball fell for Watergrasshill captain Seán Desmond in the fifth and final minute of injury time, he was about 30 yards from goal.

With the game level and the Hill having been under pressure for much of the second half, a point might have been the prudent option, forcing Tynagh/Abbey-Duniry to seek a late equaliser. Desmond wasn’t thinking point, though.

“No, that’s one thing I always say – if I get a chance to go for goal, go for it,” he said afterwards.

“The risks, especially in games like today, they’re the ones that matter. I had it in my head to get on a breaking ball, I said at the start of the game that if I got on a lucky break, I was going straight for the jugular.

“Thankfully I did it and got it into the back of the net.”

And the thoughts after seeing that net bulge?

“I don’t how to sum it up, to be honest,” Desmond said.

“It was just when I got on the end of it and I’ve seen the keeper making a little move to one corner of the goal and I said, ‘Right, let’s get it into the bottom corner on the other side,’ and I managed to stick in there.

“When you turn around and see the whole sea of red and they’re up on their feet, you’re just delighted. Time was fairly close then, we kind of knew we were nearly there, but we’re just delighted, absolutely thrilled to get over the line.”

After a few frustrating years, victory caps a wonderful campaign for the Hill, with All-Ireland glory coming in the wake of county and Munster championship victories. What changed in 2024-25?

“It’s a question I get asked an awful lot, to be honest with you,” Desmond said.

“We just have serious commitment from an awful lot of people. I mentioned a lot of people in my speech after the game and they’re the most important people to us – and I include the supporters in that, they mean so much to everyone that’s involved.

“We’ve a serious commitment from a lot of people. The commitment from the players is second to none, we’ve had serious numbers at training throughout the year.

“It’s evident when you can bring on fellas that can do the job – Jamesie Mac [James McCarthy] got a ball on the wing and played it across to Dylan Roche, two subs, and Dylan put the ball the ball over the bar.

“The monkey was off the back when we won the county but when you get a chance to win a Munster and an All-Ireland, you have to just take it with both hands.

“That’s something that we really took on.”