"Nobody gave us a chance here today," says defiant Hayes

Shea Hayes is as passionate as they come, so it’s of no surprise that he was one of the happiest people on the pitch afterwards and as the field filled up with supporters following the Mount Leinster Rangers win.

The MLR mentor took some time to express his pride and delight at how his side got past a tough Bunclody side.

“We knew we had a serious opportunity here in front of us today,” Hayes told the Carlow Nationalist. “The women three weeks ago, they set history in the club by winning and then they made another bit of history today having a home tie for a quarter-final. We knew this was a chance that we may never get again and they rose to the challenge and it was just brilliant.”

They had to weather a storm in the second half in particular as a young Bunclody side fought back and got themselves back into the game. Hayes said that they knew it was coming but that they did well to weather the storm and get themselves back in control: “We knew Bunclody were going to have their purple patch after half-time. But we weathered the storm and we found another gear. You just find a way in these knockout matches, you know, and thankfully the girls did it. It became a panel team, I think we used every sub there today and my god did they all put in an absolutely solid shift.”

It is a great time to be a Mount Leinster Rangers fan right now, and next weekend both their senior teams, Hurling and Camogie will be out in Leinster in what they hope will be a special weekend for the club. “Next weekend, what a weekend that’s going to be for the club,” Hayes said. “Two teams out in Leinster, ourselves out in the Leinster semi-final, the boys out in the Leinster quarter-final against Naas. What a time just to be involved in the club. At the start of the year, our aim was to get to the county final and take it from there and anything else you know we’re well and truly in bonus territory.

“Nobody gave us a chance here today other than the group within and we knuckled hard, we let them off and then celebrated a few days and rightly so, but when we came back training the Friday night after the week after the county final it was business and they got to it and it’s just brilliant to be involved.”

He made sure to mention the incredible support they had: “Like look at the pitch, it’s brilliant to see this you know. I just can’t believe the support that we had here today as well. That’s beyond our wildest dreams. The support was absolutely outstanding and it was brilliant to see and I think that got us over the line.”

It’s off to Meath next weekend to face the 2023 champions, Na Fianna, in what is sure to be a tough match; but Hayes says they’ll be ready to go: “It surely is a quick turnaround, trying to get them off the pitch, get them over and get them stretched, and then we’ll whisk them down to Graigunamanagh to get the saunas and the ice baths. Look, at this stage, if we had to travel to Alaska in the morning, I think we’d go. At the start of the year it was all about just getting to the county final and now we’re 60 minutes away from a provincial final.

“It would mean the world. It would mean absolutely everything. It would be the stuff of dreams. We’ll knuckle down, we’ll get in two good sessions during the week. And whether it’s Saturday or Sunday, we’ll be ready to go to battle again next week.”