New management but no upheaval for Bride Rovers

While there are some changes to the Bride Rovers management team as they look to settle into life at premier senior level, there won’t be a shortage of familiarity.

Having led the Rathcormac/Bartlemy club to victory in last year’s Co-op SuperStores SAHC, two-time All-Ireland hurling winner Brian Murphy has stepped down as manager, but Stephen Glasgow remains as coach while new boss Liam Barry has served in that role previously and has worked with a number of panel members at under-age level.

Jamie Peters, who has retired from playing with the club’s first team, take up a selectorial post, with Alan Fitzgerald and Frank Hogan involved too.

For David Barry, who scored the winning point in the final replay against Castlelyons, earning success under Murphy was special for everyone but he is looking forward to building on that with the new management group.

“I can remember going to school in Rathcormac and Brian used to always do training with us on Friday evenings,” he says.

“I suppose he was our main man – sure, he obviously has two All-Ireland medals and it was a case of if Brian Murphy said something, if he'd asked us to jump, how high would we go?

“He was definitely a big asset to have, obviously he's gone this year but Liam Barry, he's great as well.

“Liam was there in 2021 – I was too young to play then – but in 2022 and 2023 he was there and Glasgow was there last year and he had the lads at U21, it would have been Ryan Prendergast and Shane Walsh’s age and Brian and Eoin Roche were able to play that age.

“Glasgow had my age minor as well in 2021, with Brian Murphy, so there’s a lot of continuity and we’ve all worked with him before.

“Alan Fitz was with Brian, Eoin, Conor [Barry], Conleith [Ryan], Paddy [O’Flynn], up from U15s to minor.”

Peters transitioning from corner-back to selector serves to further reduce the average of the team, with time on the Rovers’ side as they step up to the top tier.

“Out of the starters in the county final, Shane O'Connor's the oldest and he’s 28 this year,” Barry says.

“He was man of the match in the drawn county final and he’s a fair horse of a man, he’s definitely not slowing down!”

The draw for 2026 has placed them in a group with last year’s beaten county finalists Midleton, semi-finalists St Finbarr’s and Newcestown, who they beat in last year’s RedFM Hurling League Division 3 final, after extra time.

With Division 2 hurling to look forward to as preparation for what lies ahead, the mood is positive.

“It’s a tough group,” Barry says, “but Newcestown showed their mettle last year, they drew with Midleton and we beat Newcestown in the league final, so there definitely is promise, you’d hope.

“Like, we'll definitely be going into every game saying, ‘We can come in here and we can get two points on the board here, we can get a result.

“Hopefully now we can just keep the momentum forward and keep rolling with the punches.”