Aghabullogue boss McGrath: 'It’s been a long time coming'

A consistent championship came on the back of a poor league for the Muskerry side, but McGrath was never worried that his side wouldn’t deliver.

Mon, 23 Oct, 2023 - 07:21

John Coleman

It’s a rare privilege to step inside the dressing room of a county-winning team and the sense of jubilation in Aghabullogue’s one yesterday afternoon was infectious.

Their manager, Micheál McGrath has ended up in Mid-Cork by way of Glen Rovers, and the smile on his face afterwards was akin to that of a child on Christmas morning.

“Very happy, obviously," he said. "It’s been a long time coming. It’s great to win it by a point. Would I say we made hard work of it? I’m not sure. Midleton came back so strong, but we just got over the line in the end.

"The nerves were jangling, that’s for sure. It’s easy to say it now, but when we got the free, I had confidence that Matthew was going to put it over. It’s easy to say now after he did it, but it was great, fabulous.”

Bradley and his fellow forwards have been on song for Aghabullogue all year, and yesterday proved no different.

“They’re fabulous forwards to have, and the other lads too. Obviously, we’ve Paul Ring who really leads the show as well. You’ve James Foley and Colm Gillespie, Brian Dineen coming on, Billy Casey came on and there’s other lads there on the panel, the likes of James Lane and Odhran O’Connell who are going to come in next year and the year after.

"So it’s fabulous to have that conveyor belt of lads to keep everyone on their toes, to keep them under pressure.”

A consistent championship came on the back of a poor league for the Muskerry side, but McGrath was never worried that his side wouldn’t deliver.

“We probably had a poor league, we got relegated, no probably about it. But we were missing some of our bigger players, or the more senior players and that has an impact, if you’re missing them.

"But we’ve seen throughout the championship that the league campaigns don’t always result in a good championship campaign.

"We were in a very difficult group against some great East Cork teams, up against a fabulous Mayfield team. The fact that you’re up against good opposition prompts you up your level as well. That’s the fabulous thing about our championships, you’re always against good opposition.”

There’s a football final to come, but next year will see Aghabullogue operating at a higher level. McGrath’s thoughts drifted briefly to the future, before reminding himself that sometimes it’s better to enjoy the present.

“It’s a big step up. I don’t think it’s just a level, I think there are multiple levels of a jump but I’m not even thinking about that to be honest! Not for a while, we’ll just enjoy this one over the next week or two.”