O'Sullivan reflects on a year where it was so near and yet so far on the senior and junior hurling fronts

The job as chairperson of any sporting organisation is a demanding role but for Na Piarsaigh’s chief Colin O’Sullivan making sure the club is in good hands for future generations is his priority.

Na Piarsaigh lost their Premier Senior hurling status in 2022 and O’Sullivan believes the task of getting back the Premier Senior is a major project.

Looking back on the season O’Sullivan is relatively happy with the effort put in from management to players.

“At the start of the year we lost Eddie and Danny Gunning coupled with Kelvin and Shane Forde and Evan Sheehan who all went travelling and that put pressure on us for numbers,” said Colin.

Getting young players involved suddenly became a major challenge for the management but thankfully the plan went okay.

“We introduced a few rookies and they stood up to be counted and although having a poor league campaign we were ravaged by injuries that affected a few teams in both hurling and football,” added O’Sullivan.

Holding their status in the league was successful and then Na Piarsaigh were faced with a difficult opening Senior A championship game against Killeagh.

“The first game against Killeagh was an outstanding game of hurling as both teams gave their all and despite losing in the end we came away with from it with many positives despite playing with an understrength side.” 

The challenge of Carrigtwohill was always going to be a true test for the northside club.

“We went into that game with confidence and came away very disappointed as we simply never turned up and were comprehensively defeated.” The one negative to come out of the game at Pairc Ui Rinn was the ACL injury picked by Daire Connery.

“Daire epitomizes what’s good about our club with his attitude to the rehabilitation as all he wants is to be representing our club at this level with his great hurling skills.” 

The final game against Fermoy was total pressure with so many permutations what could happen in the group.

“The pressure was certainly on as we went down to Lisgoold on a damp night but outside of coming away with a win and getting qualification it was the heart we showed on the pitch that impressed me.” 

Having gone from the verge of being involved in a relegation play off Na Piarsaigh were paired against Blarney in the quarter final.

“Although Blarney had a few star players we went into it believing we could win and I honestly believe we should have but for a few wrong decisions we made on the pitch coming back to haunt us.

“Blarney probably shaded it in the end but the positive thing for us is that we were right there with them to the death and that was encouraging.” O’Sullivan reflected on the Senior A championship with an honest assessment.

“Looking at how the championship panned out we saw a draw in the final between Castlelyons and Bride Rovers I think there is a few clubs out there right now thinking they should be challenging for honours in this grade.

“On our own side I think we have players that are good enough and more coming through that are good enough to make an impact at this level.

“Our plan at this club is to get back up to the top tier and if we can continue with the hard work there is no reason why we cannot achieve our goal.” 

This season Na Piarsaigh reached the final of the Seandun Junior A hurling championship and O’Sullivan believes it brought interest back to the club.

“We were very unlucky but on the plus side there was great enthusiasm came out of our journey to the final only to fail after a replay.

“There was a lot of games in the Seandun division with the group stages, but our Junior A side brought a new belief to the club as we hadn’t been in this final since 1997 and that’s far too long for a club of our stature.

“This group of players will win this championship if they retain the same commitment they had this season and well done to all concerned.” 

On the football side O’Sullivan believes getting stabilization was a priority.

“Ken O’Sullivan came in as manager and did a marvelous job with his fellow selectors and they had a great league campaign and after getting some good results I think the lads were happy with the commitment they got from their squad.” 

A Senior club has a serious number of teams to cater for and O’Sullivan took the opportunity to thank all the various volunteers in all grades.

“We also have a nice camogie set up and our juvenile section are working tirelessly to get us in full swing and credit to all concerned for their efforts that is very much appreciated.”