Anthony Nash joins Ballygiblin coaching team for 2026 campaign

Former Cork goalkeeper Anthony Nash is set to take on the role of coach with Ballygiblin for the 2026 season. The two-time All-Star winner will link up with new manager Pat O’Brien and Ballygiblin clubman Cathal Murphy as part of a refreshed management team.

Nash, who spent the 2025 season living in London and coached their hurlers to one of their best seasons in recent memory. London won all six of their group games in Division 3 of the National Hurling League before losing out to Mayo in the final, but they made amends in the summer, claiming the Christy Ring Cup and securing promotion to the Joe McDonagh Cup for 2026.

A four-time Munster SHC winner with Cork, the Kanturk native has steadily built his coaching CV in recent years. He worked alongside Ben O’Connor during his spell in charge of the Cork U20s and guided UL to Fitzgibbon Cup glory in 2022.

O’Brien, meanwhile, has spent the last number of years at the helm of Kilworth, and guided them to the 2023 Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship final. They narrowly lost out on that occasion to this year’s beaten Senior A HC finalists, Castlelyons.

The following year, Kilworth were unfortunate to fall into the relegation battle, winning after a replay to relegated Aghabullogue, who will be back up in the third tier for 2026 following their Intermediate A HC final win over against Bandon.

It's the same grade that concerns Ballygiblin now.

Since winning the inaugural Premier Junior HC in 2022 and completing back-to-back county successes following their promotion from Junior A the year prior, Ballygiblin have found themselves stabilised at IAHC level but unable to progress any further.

Their first season at the grade yielded group stage progression and a quarter-final, though they lost out by five points against Blackrock’s second team to end their bid for three consecutive county titles.

In 2024, they managed to go a step further, getting the better of Blackrock in a repeat meeting of their quarter-final the year earlier, before eventually falling to Lisgoold in the semi-final, losing by six points after having two men sent off.

The east Cork side went on to win the competition outright.

The 2025 season proved to be Ballygiblin’s worst since making the step up – suffering two draws and a defeat to finish bottom of their group – though they did manage to avoid the relegation playoff with a superior scoring difference to Youghal, who now join them in the group stages for 2026.

Darragh Flynn, who’s been on the fringes of the Cork senior hurling panel and was a key piece of Pat Ryan’s two-time U20 All-Ireland winning Cork side continues to progress, and will be an integral part of their fortunes next season.

The hope for Ballygiblin now is to reset their trajectory, and having been drawn with all an east Cork trio of Erin’s Own, Sarsfields and Youghal in their group, they’ve got the tools to do just that.