Craig Leahy: 'If you’re not putting pressure on yourself to deliver, I don’t think you’re doing it right'

Sars may have racked up four titles in seven seasons when they were last the dominant force in Cork.

Sat, 19 Oct, 2024 - 06:43

John Coleman

Sixteen years ago, Craig Leahy was at the other end of it all. After winning a minor county in 2007 he was thrown into deep end of senior hurling the following year along with Conor O’Sullivan and Daniel Kearney. They did more than survive, they thrived as Sarsfields won a first senior county title since 1957. By the time he hit 25 he’s three more medals jangling in his back pocket, and then there was nothing, until last year. What has made the past two years so different from the middle age of his career?

“I just think it’s the influx of young players. The core of the team now all have U21 counties. They won one in 2019 against Midleton, and they won a few minors as well, so the team is really being driven by the likes of Cian Darcy, Eoin Murphy and all of that age-group and even Colm and Cathal McCarthy and Luke Elliot.

“So I suppose there was maybe a gap there where we weren’t getting anything up from underage teams, but we’ve been lucky now that myself, Conor, Dan and the older lads have hung on to be there when there’s a new bunch coming through and really driving the thing. I think you need an influx every year, and in the last two or three years we’ve really got that.

“Also, the management team that we have in place this year, myself and Conor were only talking about it during the week, to get this set-up at this stage of your career…we really feel blessed to have that. It’s like an inter-county set-up that we have, and it’s a joy to come training, even at this stage of your career.”

Sars may have racked up four titles in seven seasons when they were last the dominant force in Cork, but they never went back-to-back. Like all true competitors, Leahy remembers the days they lost as well, if not better, than the days that belonged solely to them. Such is sport.

That experience will also make last year’s victory that bit sweeter. After winning last season though, and with the divisional behemoth of Imokilly in the opposite corner on Sunday, could you make the argument that the pressure is slightly off Sars this time around?

“Maybe. But there’s pressure from within the group. Lads put pressure on themselves if we’re not performing. Maybe that’s the view from outside the group ‘Ah, Imokilly will win it, Sars will do well to come within five or six points’. There’s always pressure on the group. If you’re not putting pressure on yourself to deliver, I don’t think you’re doing it right. But it’s putting pressure on ourselves in a positive way.”

“We know what we can do. We’re the last club team to beat Imokilly. We beat them last year by whatever way you want to describe it! I think Johnny (Crowley) said it after the semi-final against Midleton this year that semi-finals are just about getting over the line. You don’t care whether it’s by a point or ten points, you just need to get over the line, and we did that last year. And I think that’s what this team has shown in the club championship, is a bit of steel.

“Out in Mourneabbey against a very tough Newtown side who really threw everything at us. We probably weren’t playing to the level we wanted to play, or how we can play. That’s credit to Newtown, but we still got a result, and maybe the years you’re referring to there previously, we probably would have drawn it or panicked or lost. So, I think that bit of steel and that bit of resilience and that bit of confidence is there in the camp now.

"Against Imokilly last year we went five or six down, time was more or less up, and we just kept plugging away, stuck to the process that Diarmuid and Johnny have instilled in us, and we got the result. Come Sunday, whether we’re up or down we have that faith in our management and the players around us to keep doing what we know we’re good at, and what works for us and hopefully that can get us over the line.”