Premier IHC: Seán Feury fired up as dual demands kick in again

Trying to balance the demands of playing hurling for one club and football for another can be challenging – though it helps if both are successful.

So it is for Seán Feury of Aghabullogue, who transforms into Seán Ó Forréidh when he dons the white and blue of his native Cill na Martra.

Feury and his brother Cianie – as well as Dan Ó Duinnín – emulate their mother Mairéad’s brother Tomás Ó Murchú, while their father Ciarán brings some Galway hurling heritage.

Recent years have featured a Cork IFC win in 2018 with Cill na Martra as well as Premier IFC success in 2023, going on to Munster honours and reaching the All-Ireland club final.

That same autumn, Feury was part of the Aghabullogue team that won the IAHC – the Coachford club did a double with the IAFC – and while there was relegation in 2024, they bounced back at the first attempt in 2025.

They face into a premier intermediate hurling campaign that opens against Éire Óg in Cloughduv on Sunday night, while Micheál McGrath’s side will also take on Ballincollig and Bishopstown.

It means a full diary for Feury, a teacher in Coláiste Mhuire in Buttevant, but it’s nothing out of the ordinary.

“You’re just kind of used to it at this stiage, you take no notice,” he says.

“Micheál is excellent and then Morgan O'Sullivan with Cill na Martra is brilliant, too. They'll give you a schedule for the month and then you'll try and balance between both.

“There's never a case where you’re thinking, ‘Am I upsetting someone by going somewhere else to a different session?’ and so on like that.

“The big thing is that I and the lads feel that we can go to the management if we have issues and so on, they'll help us, they're 100 percent behind us and they back us.

“The last thing they want is us getting stressed.”

Last year was another busy one as Cill na Martra made the SAFC final, losing out to Knocknagree. Thankfully, Aghabullogue’s IAHC final with Bandon served as the ideal way to exercise the mind rather than getting bogged down in despair.

“Oh definitely, yeah,” he says.

“Knocknagree was very disappointing. They were better team on the day but we know ourselves, we just didn't play well.

“The hurling was meant to be the week before but it was called off, so that gave a bit of a break but it was great to bounce back then, because like it's a long winter after you lose a final.

“Instead, by the Wednesday we were back hurling training, you can just channel your energy and your anger and stuff into the hurling, which is important too.”

Of course, with Aghabullogue now up to senior A level in football, there is the possibility of playing against his friends in a high-stakes game but that’s nothing new either – that was the match-up for the 2018 IAFC decider which Cill na Martra won.

On the small-ball front, though, the focus is fully green and white, beginning with this weekend’s derby clash.