Cooney: Up senior is absolutely where we should be

As a former GAA president, Christy Cooney travelled the world to promote the game, but his devotion to his beloved home club Youghal was obvious as Bill Cooper raised the Seamus Long Cup on Saturday night.

“Thank God for everybody in Youghal, particularly for the older members of the club,” he said.

“It is massive for the underage sector and for the people involved. We have gone to the brink all year except Inniscarra (semi-final) and we have always been able to pull it out.

“Everybody gave everything they had inside the jersey. We grafted, had great belief and we kept coming back.

“I would like to pay tribute to Peter Coady and Con Spillane, my co-selectors, and everybody who supported us. Up senior is absolutely where we should be.”

The manager had special mention for sub Ciarán O’Mahony.

“He is a fine young fella and he is coming back from injury. He brought a bit of physicality around the square. We knew he had the ability to score points and he did that.”

Corner-forward and veteran Brendan Ring was another enjoying the night, made all that more special by the years of heartbreak and close shaves.

“We are six years down the road between finals and semi-finals and the experience told. We feel we should have been senior for the past few years. Lads who were supposed to go travelling stayed around. We met at the start of the year and said ‘let’s hang in there’.