Double dream on for Bride Rovers

Bride Rovers are county final bound – and East Cork final bound too. Their senior hurlers face neighbours Castlelyons in Saturday’s Co-Op Superstores SAHC decider, while on Sunday, their juniors will meet Cobh in the East Cork Oil Junior A final in Midleton.

The link between the two? Experience – and one man in particular.

Were it not for Cian O’Connor’s brilliance in their quarter-final win over Sarsfields after extra-time, the juniors wouldn’t have reached this stage. Remarkably, he almost wasn’t there at all.

“He hadn't featured, he'd only done two training sessions with me,” says Bride Rovers manager Richie Cahill. “He had been quite impressive, as the man would say.

“He was working in Dublin, so I just rang him, to know if he'd come down, just in case we were in the melting pot, for the last 10 or 15 minutes, would he be willing to risk it?” 

It would be O’Connor’s first appearance since suffering a cruciate injury last year – and it was worth the wait. He scored a stoppage time goal that got Bride Rovers to extra time, and nailed his second with three minutes left to play in extra-time.

“He was delighted, he came down, and you see what he did in the last five, 10 minutes of the game, five minutes especially. Got us the goal, worked hard, got us to extra time, and came through for us again in the last couple of minutes of extra time.

Hurling's a funny old game, because would I have considered Cian O’Connor, if I hadn't so many injuries? 

"No. But now he's a fundamental part of our team.” 

Hurling has been a funny old game for Rovers in 2025. The seniors finally ended their semi-final hoodoo by beating Carrigtwohill, while the juniors toppled a fancied St Ita’s side led by Cork veteran Séamus Harnedy.

That semi-final win, Cahill admits, meant plenty.

“They were hungry the week leading up to the original fixture, when it got cancelled because of the bad weather.

“But I could see it in the boys that week, they were just bulling, I even said it to a lad that does a bit of coaching with me there, Darren Cody. We were at training that week, and I said, ‘I’m going to talk to the boys and tell them to just wind it back a small bit’.

“They wanted it, they really wanted it, because last year that bunch of players, they were devastated coming off below in Castlelyons. St Ita's pipped us at the end.

BUILDING

“We'd been building all year, and you could see they wanted it, they wanted it. It was like Killeagh. They wanted another pop-off Killeagh. They got that. They wanted another pop-off St Ita's. And thank God we turned up in the night.” 

For Cahill, the journey has exceeded early expectations – but not the work ethic.

“No, I probably didn't expect it at the start of the year,” he explains. “But in saying that, I've this bunch of players for the last two years, I could see us gathering momentum there, every year we were getting a bit more experience. A couple of minors came in, we gained a couple of experienced senior hurlers, which probably helped.” 

Now, with two finals ahead and both panels in sync, the buzz around Rathcormac and Bartlemy feels like a throwback.

“It's super. Even just going around the village, we were training yesterday morning, and a couple of cars are after getting painted up, and the little kids over on the pitch, and all the colours and the flags and the bunting.

“We've been missing that. I was spoilt when I was younger, and in my playing days, we had numerous finals, between Junior A football, Junior A hurling, Intermediate hurling, we contested senior finals.

“And it's just great to bring on the next generation of players,” he says. “Just the buzz and the atmosphere around the place, it's brilliant. And I suppose it's quite unique that we have two finals to contests.

“I keep saying to the boys, all I ever wanted them to do was experience what I experienced as a player. They're the best days of your life.

“Winning makes it that bit more special. And I just want to see them feel how I felt playing as a player. Just so they have it for themselves, they'll have it in their memories for the rest of their life. And no one can take that away from players at the end of the day.”