The kick they needed: Watergrasshill defeat lit fire in Bride Rovers

The Rathcormac-Castlelyons border will feel a little smaller today. Everyone will be in the same place – Páirc Uí Chaoimh – for a final that’s as local as it gets.

Bride Rovers versus Castlelyons, neighbours by road and rivals by proximity, with silverware on the line and a place among the top rung of Cork’s championship ladder up for grabs.

For Bride Rovers, it’s a road they’ve travelled often. Four seasons, four trips to Páirc Uí Chaoimh, four defeats. Now they’re back again, different this time, having finally ended the semi-final hoodoo. And, in the words of selector Barry Hazelwood, better for having taken the long way around.

“This year was the first time we played a quarter-final,” he says. “Every other year we got straight into a semi-final. And when you get straight into a semi-final like that, you're not doing anything for a month, and you have to go looking for a challenge game.

Not that we wanted to lose any game that we went out to play, but by not qualifying straight for the semi-final, I think it's actually a bonus for us.

“We had a good game against Inniscarra, a tough game. And I just think it stood to us. We’re a young team, and games will only make them better. The more games, the better they'll be getting. That's probably the main thing really. In the five years that we've been in, every other year we got straight into a semi-final. I just think it didn't suit us, you know.”

Sometimes the path only opens up after a stumble. For Bride Rovers, that stumble came courtesy of Watergrasshill – a heavy defeat in their final group game that forced them into the quarter-final they now credit for their rise.

TRIMMING

“To be honest now, we can thank Watergrasshill for giving us a bit of a trimming,” Hazelwood says. “It was really a good kick for us, what we all needed it. And to be honest, training lifted after that game. We had to lift it after that because we were rock bottom.

“But we can thank Watergrasshill, in fairness to our near neighbours. And now we're playing our nearest neighbours in the final.” 

Rovers and Castlelyons met in last year’s championship too – Rovers winning that one handily by 11 points – though Hazelwood knows better than to lean on old form.

“Last year, we were very worried going into the game, to be honest,” Barry admits. “But I just think they missed a lot of scores that day, I think the scoreline was false.

“They missed frees that they normally don't miss, and they're an experienced side. Castlelyons have so many experienced players.

“From the goalie out, they're all experienced. They don't have the youth that we have. They're the only team unbeaten going into this final, and that's a fair record in fairness to them. And they beat, probably the outright favourites to win it all this year in Blarney. So that was a savage win for them.”

This is what makes it such a compelling final. Youth versus experience, rivals facing off.

“I'm not too sure of their average age, but there's a lot of them around a long time. 

They’ve won with Imokilly, they’ve a lot of players that have played with the Cork seniors. 

We’re looking forward to it, and that’s the main thing. And we’re there, we have a chance.”