Barryroe keen to harness momentum from league success

It’s a busy schedule for those involved with Barryroe as the championship comes into view, but hurling manager Kevin McCarthy hopes that success in Division 7 of the RedFM Hurling League can lead to more elsewhere.

On Saturday night, the Carbery club were 1-15 to 1-13 winners over Ballinora in Newcestown. A large contingent of their young squad were involved in U21 football action for Ibane Gaels – an amalgamation with neighbours Argideen Rangers – against Carbery Rangers in the Carbery U21AFC on Monday, while there is a county junior A football league decider against Charleville next weekend.

“Yeah, we think we are in good shape,” McCarthy said.

“They have football now and a football final next week and championship the week after, so a rising tide lifts all boats and things are going well now at the moment.

“The younger lads, they came up in the U21s the last couple of years playing Newcestown – Newcestown are playing premier senior so if we can match them at U21, it must be something amiss. So, hopefully they can keep pushing themselves on.”

The victory over Ballinora was Barryroe’s first adult hurling trophy since winning the Carbery and county JAHC titles in 2007.

“It's a long time coming,” McCarthy said.

“They've worked extremely hard. We're young, and I suppose, sick of losing.

“At the moment, things are coming together. It’s early still but the championship is a few weeks away. It's a good bit of momentum going into it, hopefully.

“They had to fight. It was very warm; it's the first time they had to deal with this heat, I suppose, but other than that, they came good in the end, which was pleasing.”

Key was mining 1-6 from players introduced as subs, with Ryan O’Donovan landing 1-2 while Olan O’Donovan account for three points.

“Well, there were two lads playing with Carbery football on Friday night,” McCarthy said, “and they have U21 championship on Monday night, so we tried to balance it as best we could just to suit everyone.

“Ryan’s goal was huge – goals can swing a tight game like that.”

Now, having claimed some silverware, they will look to carry their momentum into the Co-op SuperStores Premier JHC.

“Consistency is definitely worth a lot,” he said.

“You see an extra pep in their step in the training. It adds a bit of confidence to things, so they should be feeling better going into it, yeah.”

“It will be a very tough championship, yeah. There isn't a puck of a ball between a lot of the clubs there. And it's great for the youngsters – some of the lads playing today were probably kneeling down in front of us 20 years ago, so it all breeds on like that.”