Premier SHC: Dean Brosnan and Glen Rovers keen to build after year of re-focusing

Usually, a promoted side’s aim on stepping up a grade will be to consolidate and ensure that they avoid getting sucked into a relegation battle.

While Glen Rovers will obviously be keen to ensure that as they return to the Co-op SuperStores Premier SHC, there is a greater sense of expectation around the Blackpool outfit than one normally be associated with a team stepping up.

The Glen had four players on the Cork senior hurling panel this year – Eoin Downey, Robert Downey, Micheál Mullins and Patrick Horgan – while even without that quartet for much of the RedFM Hurling League, they still went into the final set of fixtures with a chance to make the final. The bookmakers have them ranked fifth for glory behind holders Imokilly, Munster club champions Sarsfields, Blackrock and St Finbarr’s.

While the sojourn at senior A level after the relegation of 2023 was not what anybody in the Glen wanted, the culture shock served to act as a reset, as Dean Brosnan outlines.

“I think we re-focused,” he says. “There was a lot of hurt that kind of made us re-focus from the ground up – just kind of focus on the small things rather than just focusing on championship.

We’ve focused a lot more on the league in the last two years, trying to blood new players.

“You can't just flick it on overnight and we learned that mistake there two years ago.”

Back at the top tier where they had resided for almost a century, the Glen have a tough group featuring Saturday’s opponent’s Erin’s Own, Fr O’Neills and Sars.

Brosnan knows that it won’t be easy to emerge from, but equally that the ambitions cannot be pitched low.

“I suppose, now that we're there, like every competition, we want to go and win it,” he says.

“That's our aspiration going into the year, each game we play now, we'll be looking to win.

“Obviously, it's a very competitive group that we have now as well, so we have to take that in mind that each team can beat each other, and that when we go into each game we'll take it game by game and just focus on trying to get a win every game.

“We all have experience of being at this level before, but we kind of just need to re-establish ourselves.

“Like, when you think about it, we haven't won a game in premier senior in nearly three years, so it's kind of just focusing now on the first game against Erin’s Own and we'll be going at that as a sole focus now and take it game by game then after that.”

Last year, the Glen were red-hot favourites in senior A, but such a status is merely that – before their victory, no relegated side had immediately bounced back.

“Obviously, there was a chance [of being beaten] and against Castlelyons in the semi-final we were really tested,” Brosnan says.

“I know we won the game by six points in the end but with ten minutes to go, we were a point or two down.

“What we did last year was just focus on every game. We probably thought that we were good enough the year before and shouldn't have got relegated, but it showed against Bishopstown.

Sport is a funny thing. We probably looked past Bishopstown that time and probably just need to re-focus and just take it game by game now.

“That's all we did last year and we performed to a good level. Hopefully, there's more in us now but that's all we did last year.”

DEPTH

The absence of the county stars afford management the chance to immerse younger players – including Brosnan’s nephew Jake – in the league, strengthening the depth of the squad.

“I think it's actually probably the strongest panel I've been part of in the Glen,” he says.

“If you look at it there now, from last year to this year, we've gotten three or four minors, who were very successful.

“We’ve Adam O'Donovan after coming back from Canada and the addition then of Micheál, who played in a few games as well.

“Then, we've got the fellas at 21, 22, who are really after kind of driving it on. Inside in training and in league games, we have options that we never had before.

Picking the team now isn't going to be as easy as it once was.”

Brosnan remains a key member of half-forward line, though at 34, he knows the importance of self-care.

“I know it probably does take longer to recover from game to game, but I suppose I’m just kind of managing it,” he says.

“Usually, I would have played hurling and football full-time, whereas I'm kind of only part-time with football at the moment, I'm kind of only committing to 15 or 20 minutes here and there.

“So, just that side of it, I couldn't do week-on-week, like I used to. There is that element but

I played in nearly every league game, I think I missed one all year.

“It's just a case of just keep going now as long as I can.”