Martin: Losing to Douglas ‘a big kick’

Sarsfields know the turns in the road once the leaves start falling.

Since 2008, they have contested every Cork senior hurling championship final bar one, winning three of those deciders.

A sixth final in seven years is the prize if they defeat Na Piarsaigh in Páirc Uí Chaoimh tomorrow (3pm), but the 2014 journey has been a challenging affair.

Coming off a final defeat to Midleton last year was tough, but Sars half-back Éanna Martin is reluctant to ascribe any hangover to that in this campaign.

“You always have to come back, no matter whether you’re beaten in the first round or the county final,” he says.

“You probably could have used it to drive you on. The hard thing this year was losing to Douglas in the first round, that was a big kick to us. We went out and we didn’t perform and they hammered us in a way, they beat us in every position.

“We had to take a step back and look at what we were doing. Pat Ryan has done a great job since he has come back in as manager.”

After the Douglas loss, Sars beat Bride Rovers convincingly before edging past Carrigdhoun in the fourth round. Martin believes criticisms of their display in that win was unjustified.

“Looking at their team, they had five or six lads who had played for Cork,” he said.

“We scraped over them, but I think there was more made of that than we made of it. People around the county seemed to be expecting us to hammer them but if you’re taking the best hurlers from intermediate clubs, they’re going to be good. All we had to do was win the game and we did.”

A subsequent win over St Finbarr’s booked the semi-final place and with Midleton now out, the Glanmire club are favourites for a fourth title in seven years. Victory against the Magpies last year would have made it four in six, but Martin isn’t dwelling on it.

He suffered a far bigger loss when his mother Honor sadly passed away during the year. The hurling was a release but it wasn’t the be-all and the end-all.

“We didn’t do ourselves justice, and to still only be beaten by a couple of points,” he says. “If a player scores 2-10, like Conor Lehane did, then he deserves to win a medal. It was a tough year for me personally and that was keeping me going a bit, the lads in Sars were great. It helps you to put things in perspective too, I was lucky to win one the year before. A lot of teams would love to get to a county final and have a sustained run.”

At county level, Wexford had a sustained run in 2014 but it was Martin’s misfortune to miss a crucial part of the year through injury and not make it back into the team for the championship.

“I played all the league games, but the Thursday before the Cork game I twinged my hamstring,” he says.

“After the league, I had a break to try and get it right and it just got worse, I got a bleed in it. It took seven or eight weeks and I missed that time when you play a few challenge games. I was back training the week after the Dublin game but I couldn’t get back on the panel, I was a sub alright for the Limerick game but when you’re playing four weekends in a row they’re not going to change the team.”

Doing so much driving – as a rep for Phoenix Labs and back home for training – impeded recovery. The journeys were also tougher this year without Sars team-mate Eoin Quigley, who hung up his purple and gold jersey.

“The drive back kills you,” Martin says. “It’s grand driving up because you’re looking forward to training, it’s when you’re leaving Wexford at 10pm and not back until 12.30am, you don’t even remember half the journey. Having the bit of company there, you can hop things off each other. He was a loss now, in fairness. At the same time, I know how privileged I am to be able to play for my county and I love it.”

With so much of his time spent either in the car or on the pitch, there’s not much room for anything else. The patience of his partner Jackie Power – a cousin of Kilkenny’s Richie and John – is certainly a virtue.

“I like to play golf but I’ve only played twice this year,” he says.

“All we do is work and train, if you’re not training you go to the gym after work. Jackie’s from a hurling family so she understands it. You’re hearing teams mention girlfriends and wives now in the speeches and it’s only right. I don’t know the amount of concerts I’ve bought tickets for and then not been able to go and she has to bring her sister or one of her friends. If the shoe was on the other foot, I’d be going mad altogether!

“At the same time, I keep meeting retired hurlers who say to stay doing it for as long as you can. You’re retired for long enough after.”