Green shoots for Bishopstown as U21s deliver county hurling success

It has been a long wait for anything resembling momentum for Bishopstown hurling.

But, as Donal O’Mahony put it, this is firmly a step forward, and one they certainly needed.

Recent seasons have been bruising. Relegation from Premier Senior in 2024 was painful. The drop from Senior A this year compounded it. Lows stacked on lows.

Which is why Sunday’s U21 B final victory over Aghabullogue was so significant. Not as a cure, but as proof that the slide – no matter how brutal – can be fought against.

“Massive, massive,” Donal O’Mahony began. “We haven't won a hurling county, in I don’t know how many years. A lot of difficult days the last couple of years, with the Premier Senior hurling and the Senior A this year.

"As we said to the lads, you have to stop the needle pointing back before you start pointing forward, and I think this team have done that.

That's six championship games now that we've won in a row. 

"We've won four of our five practice games, so these fellas have put in a massive effort, and I think they've got the just reward for the work they've put in.” 

And it is this group of U21 hurlers that are going to play a decisive role if the club are to stop the slide and rebuild confidence and credibility.

“Absolutely, they're the future of the club for the next 10 years, hopefully,” he said. 

It's great to have positivity around the hurling, it's great to be winning.

“Those fellas now put on the jersey and hope to win, and I suppose maybe before that they were expecting to lose because they'd been in a bad place for the last year or two. But that's massive for confidence now.

“It's tough. You have to start somewhere,” he explained. “The footballers are going well, they're winning Premier U21 football counties and they're doing well in minor as well, so there're green shoots there.

“We were very happy with the start we got, but you'd always expect a good team to come back into it.” 

Aghabullogue duly did, trimming the deficit to from nine to three inside a 10-minute spell before the break.

CHARACTER

“Probably conceded a soft goal in the first half when we had momentum, but I thought our goalkeeper, Sean, showed massive character in the second half, then to come out and get the display he did in the second half.” 

Seán Cronin was pivotal, producing an outstanding stop on 57 minutes to deny Aghabullogue a goal that would have brought them within a point, while Conor Dunne starred at wing-back and assisted Bill McCarthy in style for the 13th-minute goal that put Bishopstown five in front.

“We talked about it in the dressing room, because in county finals you expect them to be tight, so we talked a lot about courage, and we said courage is how you show up in the difficult moments.

“They got it to within three points at half-time, got the first two points after half-time, but we just kept our heads,” O’Mahony said. “We kept calm and worked it out, and showed good character.

“We kept on tipping away with scores at the other end when they were getting scores, and the goals were vital for us.”