Cloyne refusing to be defined by last year's campaign
Cloyne's Brian O'Shea comes away with the ball during the Co-Op Superstores Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship game between Carrigaline and Cloyne that was held at Cobh. Picture: David Creedon
You’d be hard pressed to find a team that crashed harder than Cloyne did last season. Their Senior A Hurling Championship campaign was a car-wreck: an average of a red card a game, an average losing margin of 16.5 points.
They weren’t just relegated. They were humiliated.
And of course, humiliation will never sit right with Cloyne under any circumstances.
Pride runs too deep in the black and red for that to be their legacy. What unfolded in 2024 was more than poor form – it was an affront.
This year has been about redemption, and they came early with a point to prove. It’s about reclaiming the club’s place in the senior ranks, about proving that last season was a freak incident rather than a reflection.
Winning the Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship would bring joy to any of the other semi-finalists. For Cloyne, it would mean restoration.
Brian O’Shea has felt that shift from inside.
“I suppose we had a meeting in November with management and all the players, and we wanted to see who was going to buy in or not. Everybody bought in, we’ve trained very hard since November,” he says. “Everybody’s after getting a lot fitter, bigger, stronger.
“Everything seems to be clicking with us this year, we seem to be more clicked as a team as well.”
Clicking has come from more than hurleys and sweat. The arrival of clinical psychologist Jennifer Hayes – armed with experience of All-Ireland U20 and senior county triumphs – has helped change the landscape.
“She’s been working with a lot of our players, it does help,” O’Shea explains. “It’s showing this year to be fair, for us. We’re pleased with everything, and everyone who’s helping us out this year.” Is O’Shea surprised by the impact?
“I am I suppose,” he admits. “We had one a couple of years ago for one year, but I am surprised. It’s working.”
There is another, subtler difference too. Cloyne are not just playing better. They are enjoying themselves again.
“Yes, and that’s a big thing,” O’Shea remarks. “Everybody seems to be enjoying training, they’re down early pucking.
“Everybody wants to go up. We’ve gone so far, we want to finish it off. We’ll knuckle down again for two weeks, but we have our work done. It’s kind of just keep it tipping over the whole time.”
And the spirit we all associate with the east Cork club was laid bare in their quarter-final win over Valley Rovers, a game where O’Shea had to spend the second half watching rather than playing, after limping off at half-time.
“I watched the last half an hour on my phone,” he says. “The lads really dug in deep, and we got over the line.
“Paudie’s excellent at centre-back, the way he’s so able to read the game, to spread the ball, he finds the man the whole time.
The two Cahill’s [Noel and Conor] are excellent and we’d Ian Cahill in full-forward last Sunday night, he’s made a difference to be fair.
“ Two weeks’ time now, hopefully we’ll knuckle down and go again.”
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