Cloyne's Paudie O'Sullivan: "There's only one time to be ahead"

Cloyne’s resurgence took another step forward at the weekend. Another late show against an east Cork rival, though this one over Castlemartyr demanded even more.

They trailed for much of the second half, and got back on level terms right before Noel Cahill popped up to bury the goal and put them three clear. When Brian O’Shea sent over one last white flag to leave four in it, Cloyne had done enough.

And for Paudie O’Sullivan – who excelled in the sweeper role once again – it was a sweet release from the battle they endured across the hour.

“We kind of knew coming down it was going to be that type of a game,” O’Sullivan said. “Because probably after round one, most people didn't expect us [to win] and [expected] Castlemartyr to be going for four points. But that's the way it panned out.

“We knew it was going to be a massive challenge. We knew what Castlemartyr were capable of. Again, not our finest performance by any stretch.

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“I think just the nature of the second rounds, I think, seeing the scores today, they were always [going to be] a bit tighter.

“With the first round, the draw is so far away that you've six, seven months to focus on it. For us, it was Dungourney, for Castlemartyr it was Lisgoold, so you're prepping for that. And then, almost out of nowhere, you have that second game.” 

And while their summer preparation would have centred around Dungourney, the plan put together to deal with Mike Kelly’s influence as a sweeper worked flawlessly.

“Mike Kelly's an absolutely brilliant player,” O’Sullivan added. 

We’re no fools. We saw what he did against Lisgoold. He pretty much ran the game from start to finish.

“So, we said we're going to make it as awkward as possible for him, not let him influence it. And, Brian Walsh did it for his few minutes. Unfortunately, he hurt himself. Mikey Cahill came on, and, it's just next man up. I think you saw that probably all over the field.

“I don't think it looked like we panicked. We held our nerve.

“And, when the goal chance came, there's no one better than Noel in that situation,” he remarked. “Just such composure, everything. He took his touch, turned and just buried it.

“Brian [O’Shea] there got a great point, and just to shout out him and James O’Brien, they’re first cousins, James' grandmother is in hospital. She's very sick. She'd be Brian's aunt,” O’Sullivan said. “And what they did there tonight to battle through that after being in hospital with her this morning.

It's a credit to them. And, hopefully for Joan, this win will help her some way.

Adam Lee gave them something to smile about too. The 18-year-old came off the bench for his debut and hit 0-3 from play.

“Adam's gifted,” Paudie said. “He's an absolutely brilliant hurler. Great step, great pace, great touch, great hurling.

“Nice, confident young fella as well. We unfortunately missed him for the first game. That's his debut tonight to come on. And, look, he was on no bad corner-back. Cathal Martin there is an Imokilly corner-back, a fine player. But he got three points and just took to it like a duck to water. So hopefully more to come from him all going well.” 

O'Sullivan also credited psychologist Jennifer Hayes, an All-Ireland U20 winner with Cork, now in her second season working with the squad.

“It’s the way it's gone. Everything plays its part. She's with us nearly every single night of the week, she's with lads probably one on one, she's with the group, she's with the team.

“If nothing else, she's a great positive influence around the place. She's always in good form, picking fellas up.

“And again – probably no point in saying otherwise – we had a spell there, where discipline in the team and the club had kind of maybe strayed away.

“And I think since she's come involved – touch wood – we've kind of taken that out of our game. And there's no panic. That's what she drives home. There's only one time to be ahead in the game, that was for us in the 62nd minute.”