IAFC: Damien O'Sullivan hopes to aid Rovers' return

Damien O’Sullivan has seen the good times and the not-so-good times with Ilen Rovers – and he’s certainly glad he has hung on for the dawning of some new hope.

Ilen take on Adrigole in Bantry on Saturday (4pm) for a place in the final of the McCarthy Insurance Group IAFC.

O’Sullivan, now 36, made his championship debut for Ilen in the 2008 SFC against Seandún – they would go on to reach the semi-finals that year, having lost the decider to Nemo Rangers the previous autumn.

Fast-forward the best part of two decades and the period since the restructuring has not been kind for the Baltimore/Church Cross outfit as three relegations in four years made for a slide that was hard to halt.

A Garda based in Bantry, O’Sullivan keeps goal for Ilen now, another difference to when he made the breakthrough as a greenhorn outfield.

“I thought it was going to be like that every year!” he laughs.

“I didn't want to leave it the way it was. I was better off going and just cutting loose, but I'm really happy I didn't now.

“I couldn't have envisaged a year like this, a string of victories together – 2019 was the last time we put a put championship wins back-to-back.

“It's been sleepless nights there – three relegations in four years, it’s been brutal. We’re looking up as opposed to looking down now.”

Beaten by Macroom in last year’s Premier IFC relegation play-off, the minimum hope for Ilen for 2025 was just to pull up the handbrake before dreaming of any u-turns.

A fourth-placed finish in Division 5 of the league set them up well and in their IAFC group they beat Boherbue, drew with Kilmurry and beat St Vincent’s.

While Kilmurry’s superior scoring-difference meant they topped the group – and gave them an automatic semi-final spot – Ilen made the most of the extra game given to them, a quarter-final tie with Mitchelstown setting up the Carbery/Beara West Cork derby.

“We put a massive emphasis on the first round and we got a victory there,” O’Sullivan says. “It was kind of like a weight off the shoulders and we've performed nicely. Even a few of the years we've had here, in senior A we were quite competitive with the likes of Dohenys and Newcestown but we just couldn't get over the line.

“We just needed a win. Even the relegation final last year, we only lost by two points – it was a tight game but we couldn’t win them.

“This year, down in Division 5, we had a good platform and we were winning a lot of games by a point or two. Dan Mac Eoin was missing and we were kind of seeing where scores might come from rather than be depending on him all the time.

“He came back in time for the start of the championship, which was great.”

Once more under the management of Flor O’Driscoll – who was in charge when they contended in the late 2000s – with Brendan Duggan as coach, Ilen are now keen to keep pushing on.

“I'd just love another two weeks – if we could just get one more game,” O’Sullivan says.

“I probably couldn't have pictured a semi-final at start of the year. We’re thrilled to be there but we’d love to go one better.”