'They are living in the moment' - Young Barrs stars ready to make their own history 

MENTOR: Ger Cunningham, St Finbarr's senior hurling manager. Pic: Eddie O'Hare

The several competing narratives surrounding Sunday’s Cork hurling final has meant reduced attention on the game’s standout stat.

There’s your Barrs double, which hasn’t been done since 1982. There’s the lesser-known double being attempted by a handful of their Blackrock opponents.

There’s the fact that it’s been 40 years since the Rockies and the Barrs last met in a final, an overdue reunion that has necessitated the temporary expansion of memory lane into a full on motorway to cope with the volume of traffic wanting to recall the many and storied clashes of the 70s and 80s.

Fighting for space amongst all of this is the statistic showing a gap of 29 years back to 1993 when last the Barrs planted their blue flag atop the local hurling summit.

Twenty-nine years is a famine in any dictionary. But when the almost three-decade drought concerns the Barrs hurlers, it’s a barren spell of unthinkable length.

Going right back to the end of the 19th century, the Barrs won at least one county hurling championship in every decade up to the turn of the millennium. Then a cliff edge. No final appearance or silverware in 29 years.

Their longest previous wait was 13 years (1906-19). That’s a delayed dinner order in the context of the current famine.

“You can’t turn back the clock. What happened in the past is in the past. We are trying to get the players to live in the here and now,” says manager Ger Cunningham, who delivered a man of the match display in the 1993 final replay.

That 93 win saw the goalkeeper pocket a sixth county hurling medal. Starting with his debut decider as a teenager against the Rockies in 79, he played in nine finals, in total.

An easy argument to make is how the golden era he was part of heaped drowning pressure on the generation that came after.

Did the feast, and the high standards it set, contribute to the famine?

“People would have high expectations of the Barrs being competitive and competing in county finals. And when that doesn’t happen, that frustration can be a bit of a burden.

“But the past has nothing to do with these players in any shape or form. They are living in the moment and are playing for themselves.” 

Several different groups of Barrs hurlers have come and gone in the interim 29 years without ever getting to experience county final day.

That the older members of Cunningham’s panel won’t now join that list - the likes of Jamie Burns, Eoin Keane, and Damien Cahalane, who’ve all been around the scene since the late noughties - deeply pleases the manager.

“They've given massive service to the Barrs hurlers. So for them to play in a county final is brilliant.

“You don't just be thinking of them. I'm sure if you asked some of the players that played back in the 93 county final, they would have thought we'll play in another few. But we haven't been there since.

“You must grab the moment you're in. Who's to know what's going to happen in the future? So for the older fellas it's brilliant that they'll get the chance to experience it.

“For the young fellas, they played in a county minor final a couple of years ago, so it's probably something they would have been expecting to happen. It's a good dynamic to have.” 

While the 29-year famine was obviously top of Cunningham’s to-do list when stepping back into the role of Barrs hurling boss for a second time last winter, just below it was the job of merging the two age cohorts within the panel.

On one side, you have your 30-plus members in Cahalane, Burns, Keane, and Glenn O’Connor, while in the far corner of the dressing-room there are the five U20 starters in Ben O’Connor, William Buckley, Ethan Twomey, Ger’s son Ben, and Jack Cahalane.

“We have 15 U21s in the squad altogether. A lot of the older guys wouldn’t have known the younger guys and vice versa. They socialise in different places and do different things. One of the challenges was to bring them all together.

“The young lads have brought a massive energy and a nice bit of confidence from having won a county minor in 2020. The older lads have welcomed them in with open arms and have looked to engage with them and not have an older/younger scenario in the dressing-room.” 

Also bringing a welcome confidence and winning mentality into the Barrs dressing-room are the dual players who were part of the club’s 2018 and 2021 county football wins.

Last January’s Munster club final victory over Austin Stacks and subsequent All-Ireland semi-final against Kilcoo - albeit the latter ended in extra-time disappointment - were throwbacks to Cunningham’s playing days when the club was prominent and dominant on the provincial and All-Ireland stage.

Where the footballers have led, the hurlers want to follow.

“The days in Thurles and Portlaoise earlier this year were massive days for the club. It is not just the club anymore. It is the whole area, the whole parish. The whole community.

“There is a new generation following the Barrs now, and they wouldn’t have seen the Barrs having success before. So, the success the footballers have had, we have tried to tap into that and keep that momentum and feel-good factor going.” 

So far, so good. Now for one last 29-year-ending step.