Town skipper Murray aware of ‘fine lines’

Just over 13 months ago, Bishopstown won a senior hurling ‘final’ but it was not one they wanted to be in.

Now, they find themselves in the real decider for the first time, and for captain Thomas Murray the contrast could not be greater. In 2011, the Town needed a replay to overcome Ballinhassig in the relegation play-off and the South-East side’s presence in Sunday’s curtain-raiser, the Premier IHC final, brings it home to him just how close they came to losing senior status.

“You compare last year, Ballinhassig got relegated and they’re in the premier intermediate final now, whereas we beat them by a point after a replay and we’re in a senior final. It could easily have been the other way around and that’s how fine the line is.

“You look back on the 2006 team that won the county, it was a team with a few minors and then the following year we lost four or five of the older fellas plus four or five others.

“That made it a rebuilding process and it came to a head last year, we were only a puck of a ball away from going down. Going to training, it wasn’t really enjoyable, there was more pressure with every game, it was not a place you want to be.”

Having come so close to dropping down to the second tier, it was only natural that worries might have seeped in after Bishopstown lost to Midleton in this year’s first round.

A battling 1-8 to 0-10 victory over Glen Rovers in the second round allayed any concerns and was the turning point in the season.

“Coming out on top that night was massive, everybody knuckled down and fought for every ball, you could see the relief after, we had been waiting 12 months for a win like that,” said Murray.

A rigorous fitness regime, undertaken by both the footballers and the hurlers last October, has been cited as central to Bishopstown’s resurgence.

Murray feels it helped to build confidence as well as providing a base-level of conditioning.

“The footballers and hurlers did their fitness training together at the start of the year, [football manager] Brian Cuthbert made out a plan and it’s been beneficial, it helped us greatly. We were training up in Douglas Hall and out in Cloughduv under lights, it was tough going but it was good and it’s bearing fruit now.

“You could see that in both teams that there was a spirit developing, there’s a great bond. We had big numbers and the craic was good, it was a good starting point.”