‘I am delighted for the players’ - Buggy

Ger Coady and Jack Kavanagh are seasoned competitors. Many moons ago, their current manager, Tommy Buggy, would have seen these fellas learn their hurling in the club and has now led them to a senior title.

“I am delighted for the players. I am delighted for the parish, the club. They deserved it. That is seven weeks on the bounce. Three draws. Winning in extra time and then a win today,” the winning manager pointed out.

He said the team were primed to produce.

“I thought our lads before the game we were ready to go. Our first half display was outstanding. We scored 2-17 in the first half.

"Yes, we had three wides but we stuck to the plan. Then we got the rewards."

Jason O’Neill comes back in today and scores 1-3. That line ball he got, he had been practicing them during the week. I said to him that if we get one go for it and he did.” 

Ger Coady is generally quiet and self-effacing. He admitted it was a special day for him.

 “Our backs have been to the wall a few times. It is a very proud year to be captain. I am delighted to get a result. We had to dig it out a few times and I am very proud of the lads,” he said.

He says they learned from the drawn game where they started badly.

“We knew we had a lot more to offer especially in the first half when we were poor enough the first half. We knew if we got a good start and sustain it, we would be there or thereabouts. Thankfully we did.” 

Jack Kavanagh has seven senior medals. He has had his disappointments too but Sunday was definitely not one of those.

“We will take the good days. They are hard to come by,” he pointed out.

“Last week, we had the heart to come back and we showed the fight to come back. We were seven or eight points down at different stages and four points down in injury time. Today was based on that hard work and it all came to fruition today. When it comes off it is great. We will enjoy it.

Everyone stepped up. During the week, we asked a few questions of ourselves and, I think, it showed today.” Conor Kehoe was winning his second senior on Sunday. A Joe McDonagh Cup winner in 2023, he wasn’t so sure that he would be able to follow up with a senior title.

“It has been a long season. I don’t think too many expected it to go as it did but thankfully we came out in the end. We are county champions now,” he said.

"Last week it took us about 20 minutes to get into the game. We were fighting a losing battle and were lucky to get away with it. This time, we felt if we could get a good start, we will take it from there and take everything as it comes. We got the good start. We might have died a bit in the last quarter but we held out.”