Eamonn Sheehy: ‘This is the biggest day in the history of Newcestown’

There’s no sitting on the fence from Eamonn Sheehy; today’s Munster intermediate hurling final is “the biggest day” in Newcestown’s 56-year history.

Having fallen to Ballyhea in last year’s Cork Premier Intermediate final, the goal was simply to climb one rung higher on the ladder in 2015. Munster hurling did not feature on their radar.

Their county final annihilation of Valley Rovers propelled them into “bonus territory” and when Clonakenny were overcome by the minimum two-weeks ago in Cloughduv, their place in the Munster final was secured.

No, this definitely wasn’t on the whiteboard last January when management and players gathered to plot and plan their objectives for the season.

As you’d expect of a small village in West Cork preparing for their maiden provincial decider, Sheedy says Newcestown is alive with excitement this week.

The players, as much as possible, are trying to stay clear of the hype. It hasn’t been easy, though.

“There is a good buzz around the place, good buzz around the club, good buzz around the parish. It is a big day for the club. This is the biggest day in the history of the club,” said the selector.

With this current crop together for the past four to five years, the selector is adamant the team has been strengthened by the addition of players recently graduated from underage ranks. Greg Murphy, Luke Meade and Michéal McSweeney were part of the Newcestown minor team that fell to Fr O’Neill’s in the Cork Premier 2 final in 2013. Murphy now holds down the full-back berth for the newly promoted senior outfit, while Meade is one of the team’s chief scorers.

“The adult team is reaping the benefits of that minor team. There have been a couple of successful U21 teams too that are after winning a handful of divisional titles. That is all feeding into this team.

“We would like to think that we have been knocking on the door of senior hurling since winning the Cork junior title back in 1992.

“We have won numerous West Cork titles in both codes in this club. We have 10 or 11 county titles in both codes. You can see that county titles have been won in both hurling and football. The one that was missing, outside of senior of course; we had the intermediate football, but what was off our roll of honour was the intermediate hurling championship. It was great for the club to win and be a dual senior club. For such a small rural club like ourselves, it is a great achievement.”

Standing in opposition today are Clare outfit Wolfe Tones. Relegated at the end of last year, the club made a swift return to the senior ranks and would appear massively determined to add another piece of silverware, or two, to the cabinet before next summer. Back-boning their efforts is present Clare senior Aaron Cunningham, former Clare senior Brian O’Connell, U21 Ben O’Gorman and minor Aaron Shanagher.

“They are teak tough, physical and a good hurling team. They are just down from senior and didn’t waste time in getting back up. They are going to be good.

“We are going there ready. There were elements to our semi-final performance which needed to be worked on and the players have worked hard over the past fortnight. They want this. We are going to give this our best shot. “Who knows when Newcestown will next be in a Munster final?”