Premier SHC: Encouraging year will provide Charleville with platform to build on

It may not have felt like it on Sunday – and maybe even not yet – but it has been a very encouraging Co-op SuperStores Premier SHC campaign for Charleville.

Since coming up to the top flight after their 2020 senior A victory, the north Cork club had to contest the relegation play-off on three occasions, with the 2023 quarter-final appearance standing alone before this year.

On that occasion, they lost by ten points to a St Finbarr’s side that eased clear in the final quarter; on Sunday, there might have been fears of something similar when Sarsfields established a seven-point advantage in the second half.

Charleville refused to wilt, though, and a Gareth Gleeson goal got them back in contention. Even though they lost Darragh Fitzgibbon to a late second yellow card, three points had them within a goal deep in injury time. While it didn’t come, a 0-22 to 1-15 loss was no disgrace against the Munster club champions.

Given that a place in the semi-finals was the aim, disappointment with the outcome overshadowed pride in the performance for Charleville manager Dominic Foley.

“We'll probably think about pride maybe next week or the week after,” he said, “we’re just disappointed, I think.

“We gave it a good rattle, we had them on the ropes and look, that's where I keep speaking about the difference between where we are and where the top teams are.

“They get chances, they punished us, maybe we missed chances when we just had them on the ropes. But we can't ask any more effort from the boys. I think they emptied the tank out there for us and did the town proud.”

Speaking to The Echo in August, Foley mentioned how a key principle adopted had been the Paul O’Connell motto of being the best at the things that require no skill. In terms of the hassling and harrying of Sars players in possession, Charleville ticked that box, especially in the first half as they retired with a 0-8 to 0-7 lead.

“It was,” he said, “and no matter how good you are, then if you can put that much pressure on a team, as we saw in the first 40 minutes maybe, they were under pressure, they had to work for everything.

“They have the class in buckets around the field that, if you switch off for any one second, you're in trouble.”

Given the physical exertion required for such an effort, there might have been a fear that Charleville would tire and Sars would win the game at their ease but that was not allowed to happen.

“That comes down to the fitness and again, I go back to the work that the boys put in early on in the year,” Foley said.

“It stands to you – it stands to you in days like Sunday, so I don't think we were missing on the fitness side of things, and I think we got it technically right against them, just our finishing maybe let us down a little.”

Such are the lessons of senior hurling – but, given the progress made this year, Foley is optimistic that the graph can continue pointing upwards.

“It is, definitely,” he said, “and if the boys on reflection can look back and see the strides that they did make, and the reasons why they made those strides, the work that they put in, the commitment turning up day after day, it all counts for something.

“So, if we can build on this again, the boys can build on this again for next year and go on to bigger and better things.”