Pádraig O'Shea delighted as Midleton's depth shines through

While their squad depth is being tested, Midleton have been able to meet the challenge so far in Division 1 of the RedFM Hurling League.

On Sunday, the Magpies made it five wins from five games as they saw off Charleville at home by 2-17 to 0-12. What has been pleasing for manager Pádraig O’Shea is how they have coped with different combinations.

“We're just kind of taking it one game at a time,” he said, “I suppose it's probably our fifth game and fifth different line-up.

“We still have fellows struggling with injuries, we seem to get one back and another one drops out.

“It's good and bad, but we've got to see loads of players in lots of different positions. We're just taking the positives from the couple of injuries that we have.”

Leading by a point at half-time on Sunday, 0-8 to 0-7, Midleton were initially pegged back just after the restart but then they caught fire, reeling off 1-7 without reply to take firm control.

The two goals they scored came from sub Conor Morley, the first of those immediately after his introduction, and he is one of a number of players having to double-job at the moment, lining out for Midleton’s Division 1 and Division 5 teams.

“In fairness to Conor and Cian Stack, they played the full 60 minutes on Friday night against Cloyne for the intermediate team,” O’Shea.

“It's a tough ask for the likes of them – Evan McGrath played the full hour on Friday night too, but that's just what we have.

“We've no choice but they’re getting match practice. You can see that they're coming along.

“The young fellas have been excellent and then, the likes of Killian McDermott, Pa White, the two Smiths were back, it was great to have them back.

“I thought they managed the game very well, especially in the conditions.”

It means that O’Shea’s senior managerial career has only featured wins to date, but he is keen to redistribute any praise.

“To be honest, the players are driving it,” he said, “all we're doing is putting things in place for them.

“It's the players, particularly the established fellas. They're really driving it this year.

“We're only here to help them, but in fairness, they're putting the graft in behind it.”