Ronan Curran: Belief of Barrs youngsters can overcome tiredness

11th September 2022 St. Finbarr's Ben Cunningham shoots from Douglas' Eoin Cadogan during the Co-Op Superstores Cork premier SHC quarter final at Pairc Ui Chaoimh. Picture; Eddie O'Hare

St Finbarr's great Ronan Curran hopes the confidence and belief of the club's young players will help alleviate the inevitable weariness that will come with fighting on both fronts at the business end of the Cork Premier Senior Championships.

The club's hurlers qualified for a semi-final meeting with Newtownshandrum with Sunday's win over Douglas, joining the footballers in the last four, while the three Cahalane brothers, who featured with the hurlers, will play in next weekend's football quarter-finals with Castlehaven.

Speaking in the Irish Examiner's live coverage of the game, Curren said: "It’s always very hard, the dual thing, at the start of the year. Now it gets tricky again. You have around four starters from our team and then you have the three Castlehaven contingent. Week on week it’s tough going. It’s not too bad going from hurling to football, but going from football to hurling is a tough gig.

"But it didn’t look like anyone was injured today. And winning is a habit, it breeds massive confidence. They worked hard and there’s no better feeling than when you grind out a result.

"When you’re young, you need that belief. A lot of these young fellas have won things, while a lot of our older fellas haven't any hurling medals in their pockets. So it brings that bit of bite and belief and hopefully it continues, but they are doing great."

Curran believes there is a good spirit of cooperation between senior hurling manager Ger Cunningham and football boss Dr Paul O'Keeffe.

"There was a great sign of it last week when we played Roscarbery, all our hurlers were taken off with 10 minutes to go. It’s a great sign we’re managing workload, but it does get tricky now, because now is the time you need your big players. 

"It’s worked so far, just another few weeks in it. Things are looking up in the Barrs at the moment, just drive it on."