Maturity forged in defeat boosts Bride’s final bid

Five years running, five semi-finals. And yet, no final. Close, yes. Close enough? Never. This time feels different.

Sat, 04 Oct, 2025 - 06:18

Jack McKay

The agony of Bride Rovers and Cork’s Senior A Championship has been dragging on longer than the Rathcormac and Bartlemy men would like.

Five years running, five semi-finals. And yet, no final. Close, yes. Close enough? Never.

This time feels different.

There is no standout contender in today’s final four, no outright favourite. It could be any of the quartet in action. For the first time in a while, Rovers have every reason to believe it could be them as they face Carrigtwohill at Páirc Uí Chaoimh (5.45pm).

The numbers back that up. Over the last two seasons they managed just four goals in as many games. This year, they have already doubled that tally. Eight goals in four matches. Conleith Ryan has half of them.

He has been on fire, a green flag or two in every group game and a couple of points against Inniscarra too. “It’s definitely new to me this year. It just depends on where I’m playing,” he says. I would always have a taste for the goals. I’d probably take them on a bit too much, more than I should!

“I should probably leave it over like the rest of the boys. But you need to be direct in the championship. As you see, goals win games, a lot of teams putting goals by other teams and just killing them off like that. Goals is definitely a thing that’s on my mind. This is one of those years where it’s paid off.”

Goals may be the new string to his bow, but another marker has been with him all along — his voice.

“Antrim,” he smiles when asked about the accent. “I was born here. I lived part of my life in the North, until I was around seven or eight, and I’ve been here since.

“I went to school in St Colman’s in Fermoy, but I just never managed to lose the accent. I’ve always had the slagging down the years, but it’s water off my back now.”

The lilt might linger, but Ryan speaks for a group that has left behind the excuse of youth and figured out how to close the games they once let slip. “There’s a much better mentality this year,” Ryan says. “We’ve been told we’re such a young team and that excuse is getting old for us now, and the likes of myself, we’re starting to be the older fellas in the team. I’m 25. It’s just maturity. It’s maturity in the hurling and in the players on the field.”

That maturity was forged in defeat. Their neighbours Watergrasshill landed the heaviest blow of the campaign, and maybe the most important. “They threw everything at us and they succeeded in doing that.

“I guess we were probably caught on the back foot and we just couldn’t claw it back from there. We still progressed through, but it definitely does leave a sour taste in your mouth, losing to rivals like that,” he admits. “It was definitely a thing we had to just leave behind us.

“In previous years, I guess we aced all our groups, so we did progress to the semi-finals and I think we might have been flat footed in the previous semi-finals. This year we actually got the taste of a loss. I think it might be a positive for us too because it really grounds us and just keeps our heads down going into Carrigtwohill.”

Bride Rovers have been knocking at the door long enough. The goals of Ryan —and the grit that came from Watergrasshill’s sting — may yet be the key to finally forcing it open.

The second semi-final features Blarney and Castlelyons (Páirc Uí Chaoimh, 7.30pm). While the move to smaller-sized grades has meant less of a leap for promoted teams, they must still adapt to an increase in quality. In that regard, Castlelyons can be satisfied with how they have fared since winning the Co-op SuperStores Premier IHC two years ago. Their maiden SAHC campaign culminated in a semi-final appearance while this year they are back at the penultimate stage, three group-stage wins earning a direct semi-final spot.

Having battled for so long to get out of the third tier, Alan Fenton feels Castlelyons have harnessed their momentum. “If you look back over the last five years, we’ve progressed massively as a group,” he says.

“We always knew we could push on, so it’s great to be finally able to do it. Going straight to the semi-final was what we targeted at the start and we knew we were playing against battle-hardened teams.

“We got there in the end, so we’re happy with that.”