Steel and spirit: Midleton's U16s make history with Premier 1 double

With 54 minutes gone in the Premier 1 U16 Football Championship final, Midleton were finished – or so it seemed. Trailing Ballincollig 1-10 to 0-3, there was no sign of a comeback, no flicker of hope.

Less than a minute later, it was 1-10 to 2-3. By full time, Midleton led 3-5 to 1-10.

It was unthinkable, it was sensational. But from what that group have shown over the last number of years, it’s not entirely surprising. To complete the Premier 1 U16 double is a monstrous feat, yet consistent with the character they’ve shown through the years.

Bernard Butler has seen that resilience grow first-hand. Having helped coach the group since they were in junior infants and managed them since U13, little about this comeback shocked him.

“I've said to many people, they're more than the sum of their individual parts,” Butler begins. “The way they've gelled together and played together and socialised together.

There's a maturity and a resilience that you can’t coach into them.

“Knowing the guys, they will do what they're asked to do. We made a few positional changes, we got the spark, and the belief that still runs through the guys came to the fore.

“They kept fighting right to the end,” he says. “And when Charlie [McCarthy] was standing over the last free, I suppose, looking at it; right side of the field, right distance, and thankfully, he nailed it.” They have form for this. They came from behind in the U16 hurling final against Ballincollig to force a replay – which they went and won. Their second team did the same in the Division 4 final, pipping Erin’s Own by a point after a late goal, 3-9 to 1-14.

Even the step to Premier 1 football was built on defiance.

“We won Premier 2 at U14 against Nemo Rangers in Glenville. Again, another comeback performance in that one,” Butler recalls. “So, they have a track record of it.” That latest comeback carried extra weight given the opposition. Ballincollig had been near-untouchable in recent seasons, the benchmark in football. Midleton went in as underdogs – and thrived on it.

“The message would have been, to show what they can do. Talking to the guys, it was, can they play to their potential?” Butler explains. “Can they show what they're able to do across both codes?

FIGHT

“They'd done it the week before, in the first game, in Blackrock on the Monday night, again, fighting to the end. We knew as a coaching group, if they played to their potential, they'd be in the battle.

“You just don't know with sport. One of the guys in the dressing room, said ‘you could win, score three goals, and win it in the last few minutes,’ and thankfully, that's what happened!” Butler laughs.

It’s a first ever Premier 1 football title for Midleton, a club whose reputation has always been shaped by the small ball. Two of the last three Premier Senior hurling finals have featured Midleton. Their footballers, meanwhile, still operate in the Junior A ranks.

So while the small ball remains king, Butler feels there’s a subtle shift in the tide.

“I've heard that being said about the one code, but there is work in the background being done on the football,” Butler explains. “It's being promoted by the executive, John Fenton, Liam Wade and others.

“I suppose we're just the first to see the fruits of that coming through. But the small ball will dominate, it's East Cork. You can see that even in Imokilly. But the work is there, it's being promoted.

Hopefully, it'll show others that, yes, it can be done.

Balance has been the magic ingredient.

“I suppose what we've done is we've tried to get the balance right,” he says. “It goes back to the communication, I'd be one facilitator. We all have our roles.” Last year’s Premier 1 U15 hurling semi-final defeat to Ballincollig left a scar, a sense of unfinished business. When they came back this year, they did so harder, sharper, more ruthless.

That edge didn’t come by accident. Pat Walsh’s steady hand on the hurling side helped shape it, his influence reflected in how this group handled the pressure moments that defined both finals.

“I’ve coached or been involved with nearly every age group in the club,” says Pat Walsh. “This double means a lot – it’s a reflection of the people around the setup and the attitude of the players. They’ve been a joy to work with.” It’s that balance – the toughness, the maturity, the composure – that has defined them. With Butler’s calm direction and the collective buy-in of those guiding them, they always find something extra when it matters most.

“They’ve shown they can do the double, and be successful,” says Butler. “We would have spoken before the finals and we would have said to them – similar to what Micheál Keohane said about the senior hurlers – that whatever the results were over the last few weeks, it wouldn't define them.”