There's more to come from Blackrock, says Michael O'Halloran

“Everyone is equal. We have a good bit of talent but we don’t have one superstar. We’re a real team of friends and that paid off.”

Blackrock’s Ross Coleman celebrates after their Cork Premier SHC final victory over Glen Rovers. Picture: INPHO/Ryan Byrne

Blackrock captain Michael O’Halloran expects the club will be gunning for more honours after bridging an 18-year gap to their last senior county success on Sunday.

With that monkey off their back and bearing in mind the young age profile of the panel, O’Halloran expects the future to be bright for Cork’s most honoured hurling club.

“It’s very special. Eighteen years without a trophy, it’s been a long time coming. The 33rd is very sweet. Look, we’re not going to stop here. There’s more in this team, we’re a young team but we’re going to enjoy this.

“Everyone is equal. We have a good bit of talent but we don’t have one superstar. I suppose Alan Connolly is our new superstar and he’s great but we’re a real team of friends and that paid off.”

Like manager Fergal Ryan, O’Halloran wouldn’t turn down the opportunity to line out in a Munster club championship if it is possible to go ahead with the competition in the new year. “Why not? We’ve a great panel and we’re really enjoy our hurling. A few months’ break and back at it for the Munster championship? We would be delighted.”

As a county player, O’Halloran loved the opportunity to fully focus on the club. The split season but also the championship being played over a more concentrated period of time appealed to him.

“The structure, I really like it. I like that you’re just with the club and you’re not coming and going between club and county. Everyone is there training and you have a clear training schedule and it really makes a difference.

“It helped that we knew when we were playing whereas before you would play in April and then have a three-month break. It was great to have the games continuously over a short space of time.”

O’Halloran never felt the game was gone from Blackrock, even when it appeared they hadn’t scored enough with the wind in the first half of normal time or when Patrick Horgan put Glen Rovers a point ahead in second half additional time.

“We were happy with the first-half performance. We were slow to start but we eventually got into it. We never thought it was gone at any stage. There was but we kept going and we had kept going all year. We were down and out against UCC as well but we kept persisting.

“Alan (Connolly) did very well at the end to win that free at the end of normal time and we were lucky to get into extra-time and then we really drove on and finished it off.”