Brian Hurley: 'This is a culmination of 15 years of work for Blarney hurling'

Blarney coach Brian Hurley

Blarney coach Brian Hurley described Saturday's night Cork Premier IHC title as a ‘huge win for the club’.

“It is a culmination of 15 years of work from underage. The Mark Colemans, Shane Barretts and Paudie Powers – they don’t just fall out of trees. They are good players with a lot of skill but people have worked with them since they were seven or eight years old. The underage is the basis of our club. 

"To be able to produce a few players every year at this level is what made this team. 

"The work that is being done is bearing fruit.

“The lads were nice and positive about everything they were doing. They got a few points to get them motoring from the off, winning a lot of breaks and a lot of puck-outs. They were strong in the tackle and were attacking hard. 

That was all driven by themselves. They set the tone themselves.

“We’d had enough of bad starts, bad second-half starts and bad water break starts.

The first two games we were shocking after every restart. It was something the lads did themselves, they refocused after every break.

Mark Coleman and Declan Hanlon were key, as was goal-getter Padraig Power.

Hurley continued: “Mark Coleman stood up. He was in the game constantly and was chipping away at the scoreboard. Every time we looked like going a bit flat, he would do something. 

"That is the calibre of player he is, he is one of the best hurlers in the country.

“Declan Hanlon played deeper. He has the hurling to cope with a lot of possession. He was outstanding and physically is very strong. If he gets the ball, he is hard to shift off of it. He set up a lot of our attacks in the first 35, 40 minutes.”

“While Paudie doesn’t miss too many of those goal chances."