Successes of 2024 helping to drive Watergrasshill on as they face new challenges

While it was technically last season, it was this year that Watergrasshill lived the dream by winning the AIB All-Ireland Club IHC in Croke Park.

Eleven weeks on from the never-to-be-forgotten win over Tynagh-Abbey/Duniry, the Hill are back in the swing of things, as a one-point defeat to Bishopstown in their RedFM Hurling League Division 4 opener was followed by an eight-point triumph against Tracton.

However, though the focus is now firmly on 2025, the memories of the successful 2024 remain strong.

“I suppose you're walking down the village and someone's passing you and they're giving you the big fist-bump and they're all talking about the match still,” says captain Seán Desmond.

“Even there, I'm at home and I come home from training some evenings and my mother's watching the match again on the TV!

“It's great, it's something that you dream of, you know, to go to Croke Park and win with your best friends, that's what it's all about.

“Yeah, it’s only starting to sink in now, really.”

After such a long campaign – the Hill won Division 5 of the league last year before going on to claim the Co-op SuperStores Premier IHC and then Munster and All-Ireland intermediate glory – it was only natural that there had to be a reset.

“The lads gave us a few weeks off, in fairness,” Desmond says.

“I think we had something like six or seven weeks off to ourselves, but the lads are very good that way to us.

“Even throughout the year, last year, they gave us a few weeks off where you had a bit of downtime with your family and your friends and enjoy yourself for a few weeks too.”

Of course, Desmond is aware that the Hill’s success means they can’t really go under the radar, but that’s part and parcel of making a step up in league and championship.

“Yeah, look, it's going to be a huge challenge for us,” he says.

“I suppose we're going to have a target on our back with every game we play as well. But look, it's something that we're going to relish too.

“It's a problem that you’d definitely love to have. Yeah, look, as I say, we're going to have a target on our back. But yeah, there's big games ahead for us this year and we're really excited for them.

“We played Bishopstown there in our first game and we fell short that day, but you need to be playing those games too.

“It gives you the best preparation for when the championship comes rolling around again. So yeah, look, I suppose the higher we are, the better for us too.

“There are a few young lads there now that are there in training since we started back. You need fresh faces too, because you can get stale too if you kind of have the same stuff all the time.

“We have a few new young fellas as well and look, they're going to be pushing a lot of lads from places too.

“When they see what we've done, they want to get involved too. So yeah, the more we have, the better too.”

One other tangible change this year is that, having been promoted to senior A, the Hill’s players are no longer eligible to play for Imokilly. Desmond will miss the involvement, but equally he knows that it is happening because of the Hill’s progress.

“With Imokilly, there were seven or eight of us involved in it last year,” he says.

“We got serious benefits out of that by training with a higher standard and stuff too and we brought that back to the Hill.

“I suppose when there's a good few lads playing at a higher level, it kicks on everything. Yeah, look, a few of us are going to miss Imokilly, because we got a chance to play at a higher grade but, look, the full focus is to keep going with the Hill again this year.”