Munster Club IHC: Ballinhassig relishing trip to Tipp

Ballinhassig are keen to make the most of the novel experience of playing at the home of the GAA as they begin another AIB Munster Club IHC journey.

The county premier intermediate hurling champions take on Upperchurch-Drombane of Tipperary at FBD Semple Stadium in Thurles on Sunday at 1.15pm, with a place in the final up for grabs.

While it’s the club’s third time playing in the provincial competition - they won it in 2005 - the Thurles experience is something new for much of the squad and supporters alike, as manager John O’Sullivan outlines.

“Even going back to the county final, a lot of the lads would have never played in the new Páirc Uí Chaoimh, or even the old one either,” he says.

“We’d obviously have a few lads who would have played in Semple Stadium and who know all about it but then there are plenty who haven’t.

“It’s great for them and it’s great for the club too, going outside the county play a game. I know there are buses going and I’ve heard that some of the younger brigade are going up to Thurles by train.

“It’s great to do that on the day of a Munster championship game but obviously it’s even more novel when you’re following your club and travelling by train. It’s good that way.

“I think that we’re the first Ballinhassig team to ever play a championship game in Thurles, so it’ll be nice.

“It’ll be very good for us and great for the supporters as well. Hopefully the result will be the right one at the end of it.”

While getting to this time of year can often mean running repairs on tired bodies, Ballinhassig are in the welcome position of getting stronger as injuries to the likes of Evan Cullinane, Seán Lombard, Adam O’Sullivan and Brian Lynch have cleared up.

“In the final, we brought on three guys that were carrying knocks coming into it,” O’Sullivan says.

“They were probably never going to be in a position to start that day but we knew that they had enough in them to make an impact from the bench and finish out the game for us.

“They’ve obviously all got an extra couple of weeks behind them, which is good, and they’re all more or less back to full fitness.

“The four-week break was great and it was definitely needed as well - the celebrations were long and heavy, which was understandable!

“We got them back on grass again on the Saturday and got them back down to earth. We got in a game against Bandon too, it was good to get that under the belt and it was good prep going into Munster.”

Their opponents have been balancing dual commitments, having made the Tipp senior football semi-finals, but O’Sullivan feels it is something of a leveller that neither side is coming in with a Munster quarter-final final behind them.

“It probably is,” he says.

“I know that they would have lost the senior football semi-final in Tipp last week and they’ve been busy all the time with that.

“We don’t really know much about them - all you can gauge it off is Clubber matches and you don’t get a complete picture there.

“Obviously, they have some very good players and we will need to have our matchups right but, in terms of how they play and stuff, you can’t really fully appreciate it off a video.

“You’re hoping you’ll have the matchups arranged well and that the rest of it then will fall into place.

“There will obviously be an element too of reacting on the day, considering they don’t know much about us and we don’t know much about them.”