Here come the Bride - Rovers on a roll as they return to top tier

Bride Rovers kept knocking on the senior A door – and finally it opened.

The 2023 and 2024 seasons had seem semi-final losses to Blarney – the first of them controversial, the game having to be replayed due to a 16-man technicality after the Rovers won a penalty shootout.

That made it four years on the trot that the Rathcormac/Bartlemy side had made it to the semis. Those defeats had imbued them with a steely resolve but, equally, they knew that any further steps would be hard-earned.

Even emerging from their group last year presented a test: as well as Blarney, they were in the same section as Courcey Rovers, who had reached the 2022 final, and neighbours Watergrasshill, still on a high after they had followed Premier IHC glory with the Munster and All-Ireland titles.

They came through that and then saw off Inniscarra to reach the semis again, where Carrigtwohill were beaten. That set up a final meeting with more neighbours, Castlelyons – the first game was a draw but then, with the replay moving into its fourth quarter, Rovers trailed by six.

“Those voices start running through your head when you're looking up at the time and you're looking at the scoreboard and wondering, ‘Is this it?’,” says captain Conleith Ryan.

“And then you get a strike of luck for the goal and you can nearly just see the boost among the players then. You're gnawing at it then, one score after another and Davie [Barry] scores then and you go one point up.

“Release is probably the best word to put for it, because I think everybody felt every emotion that day.

“Just the way the game went and then just at the end of it, it was just a release of the last, even three weeks in the lead up to that, the game being put off and the replay, but even the build-up of emotions from the years previous.”

That said, nobody in the Bride Rovers squad considers last year’s win a destination, least of all Ryan, a computer systems student.

He credits his partner Clodagh for keeping things motoring at home while he helps the club to try to reach further heights.

They have started as they mean to go on, winning promotion from Division 2 of the league – beating Erin’s Own in the final – and now face into a premier senior championship group that features Newcestown, Midleton and St Finbarr’s.

“It was always about getting back to where we think we belong,” he says, “so then once you get over that final obstacle at the end of last year, you're straight in hell-for-leather at the start of this year.

“When you're going into the league then, it's just you're wanting to use that as best as you possibly can to build this platform going into the championship.”

First up is Newcestown, with Páirc Uí Chonchúir in Ballincollig the venue tomorrow evening for what is a repeat of the 2025 Division 3 league final.

While Newcestown did not qualify from their group last year, they only lost one game and drew with eventual finalists Midleton. For Ryan and Bride Rovers, there is a strong sense of being forewarned about what they will face.

“We ran into them last year in the league final and I still remember it, that was a real championship game more than anything,” he says.

“I think a lot of us left it out in the field that day and we'll know what to expect in regards of physicality and doggedness.

“It's going to be a battle is probably the best word for it.”