Carrigaline sharpshooter Brian Kelleher says momentum has finally arrived as Ballincollig showdown looms

Carrigaline’s season has taken its time to warm up, but as they prepare for Saturday’s Co‑Op SuperStores PIHC semi-final against Ballincollig in Ovens (4pm), Brian Kelleher believes his side have found the spark they were searching for.

It wasn’t a straightforward group campaign. A loss, a draw, and an impressive win over Kilworth, but Kelleher says the group’s target was always simple: get out of it, by any means necessary.

“We’d have to be very happy up to this point,” he says. 

“The aim was to get out of the group first of all, and we achieved that. Once you get out, the next step is win the quarter-final, and thankfully we did that against Cloyne. We are where we want to be.” 

Carrigaline’s form line across the group stage was uneven, but the turning point arrived in their final outing against Kilworth. Up to then, they had been a slow burner. 

“The first round against Valley Rovers was very disappointing,” Kelleher admits. 

“Losing heavily… we never got going. We then got a draw with Ballymartle. The last group game was probably the turning point. Kilworth had been flying it. They’d won their league and were one of the form teams in the championship.

"But we put up a good score that day and played very well for most of the game. The week going into Kilworth was probably the best week of training we had. You could feel it. The performance showed that.” 

Carrigaline carried that momentum straight into their quarter-final win over Cloyne, a performance that Kelleher describes as their sharpest of the season. They hit 32 points in a 14-point victory.

“We were very sharp that day,” he said. 

“We put up a good score. We conceded a couple of goals at the end, which we weren’t happy with, but overall we were delighted. Our hurling was crisp. We were on it."

The challenge now is Ballincollig – familiar opponents, and a side who ended Carrigaline’s run last year at the quarter-final juncture. That defeat still stings. Carrigaline did beat the Village in the 2024 semi-final.

“Last year against Ballincollig was very disappointing,” Kelleher says.

“We never got going. We were playing with the wind in the first half and were down at half-time. We couldn’t get back into it at all. We let ourselves down big time.

“Ballincollig are a good outfit. We’ll have to be even better again than we were against Cloyne to get a win. But our performances have been good lately, and we’re putting up scores, which is helpful.”

Kelleher’s own form has mirrored the team’s rise. Sharp, accurate, and central to Carrigaline’s scoring, he has been one of the championship’s standout players in recent weeks. But he insists the collective is what matters now.

“We’re confident at the moment. We have confidence in our play. We know the semi-final will be very tough, but we’re in a good place.” 

Dungourney take on Valley Rovers in the other last-four tie.