Delight for Joe Ryan as Kilbrittain deal with first Munster Club JHC test

A trip into the unknown for Kilbrittain on Saturday ended with them securing a place in the AIB Munster Club JHC final.

Four weeks on from the win over Glen Rovers in the Co-op SuperStores Premier JHC final, the west Cork side travelled to Knockaderry, with the west Limerick side able to host the game themselves as their redeveloped ground meets Munster Council requirements.

Knockaderry were most hospitable to the sizeable travelling band of Kilbrittain supporters but there was never a sense that anything easy would be given on the field.

While Kilbrittain conceded the game’s first two points, they battled back to lead by 0-11 to 1-6 at half-time, albeit having to turn to face the wind. They dealt well with the challenge, though, as Luke Griffin’s goal helped to put them in control while Mark Hickey finished with 12 points in a 1-23 to 1-16 victory.

“It was a bit of a sluggish start,” said Kilbrittain manager Joe Ryan, “but at half-time we said it was a bit of the unknown and I think it's easy when they're on their home ground, anything at all is big - a sideline won, a block-down - so it was hard for us.

“What we said at half-time was that, even though we felt we should have had more because we were with the wind, just to not under-estimate it because they definitely should have had more in first half, too.

“I think it was it was eye-opening for the lads, but when things weren't going well for us, we were able to dog it out and we had the quality then to finish it.”

Central to the win was high rate of scoring efficiency - the first 51 minutes of the game featured just one Kilbrittain wide and they finished with four in total.

At times during the successful county run, they had left opportunities behind them but Ryan is always happy to see his players show the endeavour to have a go and it will be the same for the final against Waterford’s Kilrossanty.

“It's funny,” he said, “it's kind of a thing that I wouldn't necessarily see it as a negative - we want them to shoot and we encourage them to be ambitious.

“Our average was way better today than it was over the championship and so hopefully better again in two weeks.”