SAHC: Four-week gap not an issue for Carrigtwohill

Owing to scheduling issues outside of the teams’ control, Sunday’s Co-op SuperStores SAHC final will be taking place 29 days after the respective semi-final wins for Carrigtwohill and Erin’s Own.

The natural target to fill such a gap is a challenge game, though of course the time of year means that there are a dwindling number of prospective candidates. Thankfully for Carrigtwohill, familiarity with such a lay-off meant that they could approach things with prior knowledge of how to build towards the fixture.

“We didn't actually give any thought to having a challenge match,” says Carrigtwohill manager Denis Walsh.

“We talked about things and then we just decided against it because we had a few injuries coming out of the last match.

“There was nothing serious but fellas just needed the time and there was an U21 football championship match.

“We had a four-week break before the semi-final last year and this group would have had a four-week break before a semi-final a couple of years ago, so they've been through it before. “As well as that, the four-week gaps are kind of trickier if you're coming in against a team who's played two weeks previously, so there is that element that it's the same for both teams.

“Our training's been great – Johnny Dwyer's training is exceptional and there's been a good buzz around the place. We're glad that we're in the last week now and that the game is coming up.

“The four weeks haven’t really been an issue.”

Bar long-term injury absentee Seán Walsh, Carrigtwohill have a full deck to choose from, with the four weeks along Justin Oke to regain full fitness while his midfield partner Jay Horgan is ready too, having been forced off in the semi-final win over Blarney.

That was Carrig’s best performance to date, having bounced back from an opening loss to Inniscarra by beating Courcey Rovers and then drawing with Ballinhassig, a game which could have seen them exit the competition.

Elimination was even more real when they trailed Na Piarsaigh by seven points in the quarter-finals before winning on penalties. That they managed to follow that with such an impressive outing against Blarney bodes well as they look to produce something similar/

“We're trying to keep things normal,” Walsh says.

“We're trying to keep to the same routine, because we kind of know at this stage what works for us and what works for the players.

“This year has been a real mental test for the last few months, given the various situations we've found ourselves in, where we were nearly out of the championship.

“So, I think, psychologically, playing well in a semi-final against a really good team, performing on a big day like they did the last day, I think they'll take a lot of energy from that and that's been good for them.

“It's been great for them, I think, as a group and look, but obviously it's an even bigger test now on Sunday in the final.”

All the more so when the local-derby element is factored into the equation, though some players are likely to feel it more than others.

“It's funny because, years ago, when I was in school at Midleton CBS, a lot of lads from Erin’s Own went to school in Midleton,” Walsh says.

“Midleton CBS was a real melting pot for clubs all over east Cork and you would have grown up knowing a lot of those lads.

“Nowadays, a lot of the lads from Carrigtwohill are still going to school in Midleton but there's now a secondary school in Carrig and in a lot of the younger classes, there’s kids from Glounthaune and Little Island.

“Generally speaking, you won't see many Erin’s Own players on a Midleton Harty or Dean Ryan team – they're going to the city and they're going to Glanmire and they're going to different places, so there probably isn't the same interaction between the lads growing up as they used to be, just because of it was just the way the demographics are and where the schools are now.

“We're still obviously next-door neighbours and there is definitely an element of interaction, of course there is, and we’d be playing Erin’s Own under-age on a regular basis.

“It's great that it is Erin’s Own, because there is that local-derby element too, which is great. It kind of adds to the whole thing.”