Ballinora's Conor Quirke: We've learned a lot — now it's about taking that next step

The expectations are once again high heading into this year’s championship for the Ballinora hurlers. 

Last season brought the highs of a fifth Muskerry JAHC title on the bounce and the lows of a county final defeat to Kilshannig. It's a contrast key player Conor Quirke admits has stayed with the group.

“Getting to the county final was a massive achievement, but losing to Kilshannig was very disappointing in the hurling,” he says.

“It’s probably been on the back of our minds for a lot of us since. That’s what we’re working towards again. We know Mid-Cork isn’t easy — we saw that when Dripsey beat us well — and we put ourselves under pressure against Grenagh. But we showed we can perform under pressure. We just didn’t do it in the final.” 

Quirke came off the bench that day, but Ballinora never found their rhythm.

“We just never really got going. Kilshannig pushed on and showed their class. They’re well established now at Senior A in the football. They got ahead of us early and kept their mojo. We were probably panicking a bit trying to claw it back. We didn’t play our own game.” 

The contrast with the football final was stark. Ballinora won the McCarthy Insurance Group IAFC in 2025 for the first time.

“It was mixed emotions,” he said.

“Winning the football in dramatic fashion and then trying to turn around and win a hurling county… it was probably too much. But to reach two county finals, win one and lose one, that’s still a big achievement.

“Of the 15 lads who played football and hurling, I’d say around ten were starting both codes. It was something like 43 weeks in a row. We trained from January to December.

“95 percent of us were there every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday or Sunday depending on games. It’s a lot on the body, but we’ve been trying to manage the load better this year. There have been a lot of injuries this year across the two codes.” 

Ballinora’s season now resets under new hurling management, with Francis Twohig stepping up as boss alongside Wesley O’Brien as coach.

“Francis has been around since U12, always involved. Wesley is a seasoned operator with UCC in the Fitzgibbon, so he’s brought huge experience. He’s very stats orientated. We’ve GPS this year — maybe we were one of the last teams to get it — and we’ve done a lot of video analysis. We’re trying to take it to the next level.”

The Mid-Cork JAHC format adds further jeopardy.

“There are six teams in our group and five in the other. Only the top two go through — third doesn’t. So there’s more pressure. You’re playing five group games and you’d want to be winning at least four. Ideally all of them. Last year, teams were hunting as much as we were. We can’t afford to get lackadaisical. Eyes on the next game only.”