Cathal Vaughan and Uibh Laoire keen to maintain upward momentum

Momentum has been a powerful driver for Uibh Laoire in recent years and they have already got 2025 off to a good start.

A win over Naomh Abán a fortnight ago got last season's McCarthy Insurance Group FL Division 4 champions off to a winning start in Division 3 and on Saturday they face the side that eliminated them from the quarter-finals of last year's Premier IFC, Kilshannig.

It was the second year in a row for the mid-Cork club to lose to the eventual champions at that stage, being beaten by Cill na Martra in 2023. Having won the 2020 JAFC and 2021 IAFC, they made the third-tier semi-finals at the first time of asking and once again the aim is to be involved at the business end come championship time.

To that end, competing in Division 3 of the league after last year's success is a major help, according to star attacker Cathal Vaughan.

“You’re playing teams that are in senior A and also sides that are in our own grade, premier intermediate,” he says.

“It’s good to be playing tougher opponents than what you’d have in the lower leagues.

“We were playing junior for so long, it’s great to be up and playing these established teams and testing yourselves against them.

“We all want to be playing at as high a level as possible and it’s great to be playing these teams and trying to go higher up again. It’s about continually trying to improve and to do the best we can in the league.”

In 2015, Uibh Laoire ended a 30-year wait for the Muskerry title before following that with wins in 2018 and 2019 before going to county glory in 2020.

“We probably had a good crop of players around my age,” Vaughan says.

“Back in 2020 and 2021, when things got delayed, you had a focus there for a good couple of months, where you had the county junior semi-final, then the final and then you were straight in to intermediate.

“If we had had that three- or four-month winter break, you don’t know what would have happened, whereas we just continued on and had built up a lot of momentum.

“That worked in our favour and then we went into premier intermediate and we lost a semi-final to Bantry down in Dunmanway, that was a game that could have gone either way.

“It’s just continually trying to be there or thereabouts and to push on from last year now again.”

Certainly, as a forward who knows where the posts are, he is keen to make the most of the new rules.

“It’s great to have the new rules,” he says.

“Something probably had to be done with the way it was last year. Even playing some club games, it was gone very defensive, whereas now, with your three up, you can put yourself there on the arc, come off the shoulder and take your shot.

“It’s a more exciting game now as well and I think that that will be seen in the club games. It might be tough to get used to in the leagues, it’ll be a work-in-progress, but it’s nice to see something different.”

Vaughan is now 31 but, while he has a lot of football played, he has a lot more ahead of him, too. Having been sidelined more than he would have liked, the focus is on maintaining fitness to aid his side's upward push.

“Looking back, yeah, I’ve been playing a long time,” he says, “but I’ve had a lot of injuries, too.

“I could nearly list off every muscle that I’ve done and every joint that I’ve hurt. After an injury, you have to get back on track and go back to basics.

“I’m looking forward to this year, I probably feel that I’m fitter now than what I was last year, so it’s just about trying to push on now.”