SAHC: Hill defeat helped Rovers to rise again

Across 2022, 2023 and 2024, Bride Rovers reached the knockout stages of the Co-op SuperStores Cork SAHC without losing a group game.

While they were drawn in a tough section for 2025, wins over Blarney and Courcey Rovers all but secured qualification with a game to spare. That remaining game could never be taken lightly, though – it was against neighbours Watergrasshill, just up from premier intermediate.

The Hill still had a chance of qualifying, though it would have required a winning margin of 18 points. Perhaps having such a cushion relaxed Rovers minds and, while a nine-point defeat still meant they went through while their rivals were eliminated, it left them with plenty work on ahead of a quarter-final tie with Inniscarra.

“It was a long walk that evening from the lower pitch in Ballynoe up to the dressing-rooms,” says Rovers coach Stephen Glasgow.

“We had to walk through the Watergrasshill supporters, who were still celebrating. Seeing that, it was a quiet dressing-room and there wasn’t much said, by players or management – there was nothing to be said, because everyone knew exactly how we were all feeling.

“It served as a reminder and we pressed the reset button. I won’t like, we were kind of nervous going in against Inniscarra, because of coming off a result like that and not getting a performance.”

They bounced back, though, to overcome the Muskerry side and reach a fifth straight semi-final. Across the previous four years, the Rovers had sometimes earned a quarter-final bye and sometimes needed to win a quarter-final.

Glasgow – who played for his native Na Piarsaigh before transferring late in his career after moving northwards – feels that the discourse around the benefits and drawbacks of the bye can be overdone.

“I don’t think it’s a major thing, to be honest,” he says, “it’s probably all in the head at this stage. People are talking about it, year on year, whether it’s Cork going straight to an All-Ireland semi-final or going through the back door to a quarter-final and getting an extra game.

“There’s probably too much made of it and sometimes that weighs on the players’ minds then afterwards and they’re actually thinking about it when they shouldn’t be.

“It can be a curse or it can be a saviour; thankfully, this year it worked in our favour.”

Whereas the previous two seasons had seen Bride Rovers come up against Blarney in the semi-finals – with the 2023 meeting characterised by controversial circumstances around Rovers winning on penalties only for the game to be replayed due to them having 16 men on the field for a brief period, with Blarney then triumphing – this time around they faced Carrigtwohill.

“It was a case that we had nothing to lose, really,” says Glasgow.

“To be fair to lads, it took us maybe five or ten minutes to settle, with the movement and the pace of the Carrigtwohill forwards, but once we got a handle on that – I won’t say we were comfortable but we always maintained a two-to-six-point lead throughout the rest of the game, then.

“I don’t know if you saw the reaction from the players and management when the whistle went, it was as if we had won the final.

“The sense of relief was just incredible, to get that weight off the shoulders. It was great afterwards in the dressing-room – we had a great chat among ourselves and then obviously two weeks to look forward to, to prepare for final.

“We couldn’t wait to get back to it on the Tuesday night.”

Of course, the final isn’t without its subplots, given that Rovers face neighbours Castlelyons. The task for both sides is to divorce the pageantry from the game itself.

“It’s only a stone’s throw from my place down to Castlelyons,” says Glasgow.

“A lot of the guys went to school together and a few of our lads would have been taught by some of the fellas playing for Castlelyons.

“Both villages are all decked out – we’ve the tricolour up and down the main street here, the bunting is up and there are a couple of cars painted – but you have to take the opposition out of it and take the occasion out of it.

“You’re playing the match, not the occasion and, hopefully, we’ll have the lads grounded enough that, come Saturday, they will be able to take one from the other.”