Kilshannig manager Pat Murphy sees Premier Junior HC as 'golden opportunity to drive on'

Vengeance for 2022, and the trap of the divisional section firmly escaped. And few of those divisional competitions come near to the challenge that the Avondhu Junior A Hurling Championship poses.

The last repeat winner of that competition were Harbour Rovers in 2015 and 2016. Kilshannig are the only side to have won it twice in the last five seasons.

“The Avondhu division is a very difficult division,” said manager Pat Murphy after the win. “Probably any one of six teams are well capable.

“Even to come out of your group and get to a semi-final and final, and then come on and win three games in the county, we played Ballinascarthy, Newmarket – and today's final – we had nine games to win and we are nine games unbeaten, that is testament to our group of players.

“Certainly, it is a great weight of our shoulders,” he explained. “I am absolutely over the moon for the group of players because they have worked tirelessly.

“We are maybe a bit overwhelmed after reaching the holy grail as we call it. We came into the game today knowing we were going to be under huge pressure from a strong Ballinora team who were going for another county in the space of two or three weeks.

“We saw them last Sunday against Cobh and we knew they'd be very much up for the game. They have a lot of very, very strong players, but we'd great work put into the hurling this year and certainly, we tasted defeat at county level in 2022.

“We came with a renewed vengeance this year. We had a good mix of youth and experience. We had nine or 10 of the team that came here in 2022,” Murphy outlined. “We led by four at half-time. It was nip and tuck, pretty much score for score in the first-half.

SETTLED

“They came back strong at us in the second half, we came under a bit of pressure. But we settled and we started to get the scoreboard ticking again, which is the important part of it.

“And from that point of view, the goal then from Éanna [O’Hanlon] gave us a good bit of daylight and with the finish line in sight, we kicked on hard.

“We certainly weren't going to leave it after us coming down the straight,” he remarked. “We finished strong, as we have been doing in games.

We had Dermot O'Riordan with us this year and Dermot has worked ferociously hard all year to try and get the boys to follow his lead.

“He has put pressure on lads to up their game at every single opportunity and he has demanded high standards,” said Murphy. “That, coupled with our warrior-like spirit and hunger and passion and desire, they all came to the fore today.” 

And their hurling championship win is timely. It follows a football run that has been pointing upwards for years. Intermediate A champions in 2022, Premier Intermediate champions in 2024. Now they’ll be Senior A in football and Premier Junior in hurling for 2026.

“It has been a fantastic run, hurling and football. Most of our players are playing both codes,” Murphy added. “Management in hurling and football have worked seamlessly this year, as it has in the last number of years. That has stood us in good stead.

“We are getting the results from that unity of purpose.” 

And now, with a debut Premier Junior campaign to look forward to, there is as much there for Kilshannig to achieve as they want to take. Erin’s Own have proven that since beating them in 2022, winning two counties since and coming close to grabbing a third.

“It is a signpost for us as to where you can go. We see Kilbrittain after winning the Premier Junior county, are out acquitting themselves so well in Munster.

“There is a golden opportunity there if you want to drive on.

“If you have the hunger, will, desire, and all the pieces of the jigsaw in place, if you can bring them, you are certainly in a great place to progress.”