Kilbrittain target first Munster hurling title for West Cork as they honour Oisín Gillain's memory
Oisín Gillain was a talented hurler for his club as well as a highly-promising footballers.
On the evening that Kilbrittain won the county Premier Junior hurling title in October, Kieran McCarthy of
posted some brilliant footage of the homecoming where smoke flares illuminated a black and yellow backdrop of giddy excitement enveloped in a mood of deep elation.
The celebrations at the final whistle had already underlined how much it meant to everybody associated with the club but that immense satisfaction was also mixed with huge sadness and emotion.
Especially when Kilbrittain won the game on Oisín Gillain’s 19th birthday. The talented young man passed away suddenly in March at just 18, but Oisín Gillain was never out of Kilbrittain hearts or minds.
All through the season, the club had hung Oisin’s number 8 jersey in their dressingroom, in hurling and football. In the county final programme, Oisín was the first name listed amongst the substitutes, at number 8.
Having been a permanent fixture at midfield throughout Hamilton High School’s run to the Corn Uí Mhuirí semi-final just weeks earlier, Oisín Gillain had shown such huge commitment and dedication towards the GAA and the Kilbrittain club that his family asked, in lieu of flowers for his funeral, that donations be made to the club for the purchase of new gym equipment.
Winning the Cork championship was the ultimate goal but as soon as they achieved that target, the Munster Junior championship immediately had to be on their minds.
Reaching the final would have been seen as a baseline requirement for Kilbrittain – because that is what Cork clubs have always done in the Munster Junior championship.
Kilbrittan’s appearance now on Saturday is the sixth successive season that a club from the county has fetched up in the final, with Cork clubs having won each time. In the history of this competition, Cork clubs have won 17 of the 23 titles.
It is just what Cork clubs do in this competition. And Kilbrittain will be even more pumped to win Munster now considering the long and arduous journey they’ve had to undertake since the outset of the decade to finally get on to this stage.
In 2020, Kilbrittain lost the county Lower Intermediate semi-final to Castlemartyr by three points. A year later they went down to Lisgoold in the final.
Kilbrittain lost the 2022 Premier Junior semi-final to Tracton after extra-time, while the West Cork side succumbed to Glen Rovers after penalties in the 2023 quarter-final in Ovens.
Kilbrittain had a poor season in 2024 but the remarkable consistency they’ve shown throughout this decade finally came to fruition in October when they landed the county title.
Munster is completely new territory but it’s not as if Kilbrittain don’t know about the big-time either. Four of their players started on the Carbery divisional team that won a historic first county senior title in 1994 – Micheál Holland, Denis O’Neill, Darragh and Geoff O’Connell.
After beating Ballincollig in the 1995 Intermediate final, Kilbrittain made a huge mark in the 1996 senior championship.
Kilbrittain lost the replay to an Imokilly outfit that went on to contest that 1996 final before bagging successive county titles in 1997 and 1998.
In 1997, Kilbrittain beat Newtownshandrum before losing to UCC by one point. The West Cork side though, failed to win a game across the following two seasons before regrading back to Intermediate again for the 2000 campaign.
The restructuring of the championship again in the middle of that decade saw Kilbrittain shift down another grade before they finally had success again in 2010 when securing the Intermediate A hurling title to gain promotion to Premier Intermediate. After another slide back down the grades, the climb to get back into Intermediate picked up real pace at the outset of this decade.
Now that they are back up, winning Munster is the logical next target. Doing so would also see Kilbrittain become the first side from the Carbery division to win a provincial club hurling title.
The team they are facing now on Saturday - Kilrossanty - went into last year’s provincial Junior championship as Waterford representatives after losing the county final to Roanmore, who are a senior club, but Kilrossanty made a real mark in the competition.
After beating Feenagh-Kilmeedy from Limerick, who had reached the 2023 Munster final, the Comeragh side beat ‘The Banner’ from Clare in the semi-final. Russell Rovers beat them by 11 points in the final but that was a false complexion of a match that was extremely tight until the final quarter. The Cork side were also thankful to their goalkeeper Ross Walsh for some top-class saves.
Kilrossanty are back again now but they’re back with even more ambition, intent and momentum as county Junior champions for the first time, having beaten Ballygunner in the final.
The dominant senior force in the county in the 1980s, when winning five titles, Kilrossanty reached Munster senior finals in 1986 and 1988, losing to St Finbarr’s and Nemo Rangers. They only lost the 1988 decider by four points to a Nemo side that went on to win the All-Ireland.
Kilbrittain don’t have anything like that history in this competition but they have Cork’s tradition of success to draw on. Yet Kilbrittain have also been driven by a far deeper emotion this year after the passing of Oisín Gillain, Every club has a story to tell.
And after today, Kilbrittain will hope to write the glorious next chapter.
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