'As sweet as the first one' - Boland

“As sweet as the first one, they are all the same whether it is the first or the last,” said Paddy Boland who scored six points from play in Sunday's Senior Hurling Championship replay win.

It was a day he thought might not happen this year. Injury has been a constant companion.

“I broke a finger in a college game. I was keeping the fitness up but I know you don’t have the match fitness. The start of the club championship, I was three minutes on the field and I broke the one beside it,” he explained.

The draw last week had him ready for action this week.

“I was only back fully fit and last week stood to me a lot. I was feeling good and fit.

“We moved very well in the first half which made it a little easier to get scores. There was a lot of movement there with players moving off the shoulder. It came right.” The intercounty player did not relax until the final whistle. Even though the game was all but over at the interval?

“We have been there before with St Mullins when you are well up. The opposition is bound to come back where they hit their purple patch. We had to stay chipping away with a few points and it worked out.

You don’t relax. You stay going until the final whistle. It is as simple as that,” said Boland.

Paul Doyle was winning his sixth senior title. Yet he remembers the losses which hurt.

“This is a really big one. We lost in 2021 and 2023 to Rangers. They are very hard ones to take. It is nice to come back and show up. The first half was very good. In fairness, every time the ball went into the forwards they got on top. Sometimes it goes your way. The start helped us.”