Night of celebration and sadness for county champions Kilbrittain as Oisín Gillain is remembered 

Friday night was a special night for Kilbrittain GAA Club.

It was one of celebration but also sadness as they won the Co-op Superstores Premier Junior Hurling Championship title. The celebrations after the final whistle showed what this win meant to the club as they came out on top, defeating the Glen by 0-22 to 2-15.

But it was also a poignant night as they remember one of their young players in Oisín Gillain, who sadly passed away in March at just 18 years of age.

It was fate that they would win this title as the final was played on his 19th birthday and from the first whistle to the last there was a steely determination not to let this one slip. All through the season they have hung his number eight in their dressing room, be it for football or hurling games, and he was listed on the programme at that number.

A lovely touch from the club and it shows just how much he meant to all involved and how much they were playing in his memory.

They didn’t have it easy and the Glen made them fight all the way and a late goal for the famed northside club meant a nervous finish for Kilbrittain. But they won the puck-out after the goal and, into injury time, the ref blew the final whistle and the celebrations began.

Have no doubt they continued all weekend, whilst at the same time everyone involved is mindful of Oisín and his name is never far from their thoughts.

Afterwards selector Joe Ryan said it was a great night for the club.

“It's some feeling, I don't know how to describe it really,” said Ryan. “The lads fought so hard there in the second half when things looked slightly against us. We were struggling a bit on shooting, but they just showed so much heart.”

Going in at half-time, he admitted they were a little deflated as after a great start they Glen roared into contention.

“It was a little bit deflating going in because we had played so well for the first 15 or 20 minutes and everything seemed to be going over the bar. We were playing to the plan of getting the ball into the lads early and then taking on the players. I suppose we kind of let them in with maybe a few frees and things like that.

“But look, they reset at half-time. The players spoke themselves, we only added maybe two or three things into it and they hurled their skins out in the second half.

ATTITUDE

“We were getting our scores and then I looked again and the Glen were still there. 

They're a senior club with senior attitude and some great players. 

"They were going to come back at some point and their forwards were causing us a lot of trouble.

“But we hung in there and we knew that after the goal the ref was probably going to play the puck-out and see who won it and thankfully Mark Hickey and Sean Sexton came up trumps for us there to see us win.”

DEVASTATING

Turning his thoughts to Oisín he added: “Behind all this is Oisín and he was a massive part of this group and he passed away Paddy’s weekend and it’s his birthday today which is incredible.

“To think that the county final fell on his birthday, you know there are families in Kilbrittain that have been through devastating loss, Oisín’s family and the Enright’s as well over the last few years.

“I don’t want to say it was the only thing they were playing for, because it can’t be, but it certainly was a huge motivating factor."