There in black and white: St Nick's rebound down to hard work and planning
BROTHERS IN ARMS: St Nick's players Robert and Eoin Downey during training for the Cork JFC semi-final against Cobh. Picture: Eddie O'Hare
It’s only right that tradition trumps modern sports nutrition trends sometimes. St Nick’s footballers have always enjoyed a tray of creamy cakes after the last training session before a championship game.
The sister club of hurling bluebloods Glen Rovers, Nick’s upheld the custom when mixing it with the heavyweights of Cork football. And the players enjoyed their post-session treat from the Old Mill bakery on Thursday night too as they prepare to face Cobh in the Premier JFC semi-final in Carrigtwohill today/Saturday.
It’s the latest game in a season which has seen the Blackpool outfit turn things around. Having slipped from Senior A in 2020 to Premier Junior by 2023, the graph is now edging upwards once more.
This time last year they survived a relegation playoff, beating St James'. This term, Nick’s sealed promotion to Division 5 in the league and then secured a direct route to the championship final four. Though he insists nothing’s achieved yet – those two milestones ticked off a couple of targets on the panel’s to-do list, coach Eoin O’Sullivan says.
“Getting out of the group was an initial target and going straight to the semi-final has been fantastic,” he says. “It's a credit to the players that they've bought into what we've provided and anything we've asked they've given us and given us back in spades.
“It'd be fantastic now to go one more and make a country final. It'd be huge for the club, it'd be huge for the players, huge for ourselves.”
“It's not just this year,” he continues when considering the club’s reversal of fortunes. “We've had U21 success. Our second team were fantastic, got two cups out of three this year. It’s a club-wide thing, not just that we need to put things right. It's more a case of now is the time.”
Like the overnight success that was years in the making, any turnaround of fortunes is thanks to behind-the-scenes work over a stretch of seasons, says manager Robert Brosnan, who leads a new backroom.
“Like everything else, you go nowhere without your underage,” he says. “And unfortunately, 20 years ago when we had our purple patch, when we were in county semi-finals at senior level, we probably took our eye off the ball a small bit on the underage. So when that cohort at senior came towards the end, we had nothing back-filling.
“There's been massive work done here for the last 10-15 years with people like Des Cullinane, Mark Kennefick, Mick Byrne, David Brosnan, John McCarthy, there's any number I could name, that have done loads of work with the underage. So you can see the fruits of that.
“I was asked the question recently ‘has this come all of a sudden’; it hasn't.”
Some so-called traditional clubs in the city have been victim to shifting demographics and squeezed by housing issues in recent years, but plans for thousands of new homes in the Ballyvolane area represent an opportunity for those on the Ballincollie Road in the future.
“There’s massive potential,” agrees Brosnan. “There's plenty of good football now coming out from the northside. Obviously, you have to target [new developments], but you have to have the structures in place here to get kids in, number one. And then keep them here once you have them in.
“So there's a lot of work being done with that even now at the moment. We have a lot of plans that are in the infancy stages with regards to getting out and targeting those houses.”
As an exercise, the management team calculated the panel’s average age recently: 22.8 years. “And there’s one or two elder statesmen that are bringing that up,” laughs O’Sullivan.
The panel have been bolstered by a crop of young players who have made the steep step-up. And Nick’s negotiated the championship pool without conceding a goal, something that reflects the structures down through the club, Brosnan says.
“It's all that work that's been done underage that's bearing fruit now. We were coming out this year with four or five fellas stepping out of minor. And you're not quite sure how they’ll transition.
“Fortunately, they've transitioned extremely well - Jack O'Sullivan, Jake Brosnan, Conor McCarthy, they've all hit the ground running.”
“We have a good young group that have all probably come up with a couple of the underage coaches going back the years,” he adds.
“Through the underage we've had a set structure of how we want to defend. So it's all come together because they've all come through that and we all know what we're targeting and how we want to defend."
All but a couple of the Nick’s panel play hurling at one grade or another. Since the Glen’s senior championship exit to Midleton at the quarter-final stage, brothers Robert and Eoin Downey have been able to concentrate on the big ball - a game they’ve always committed to, despite the demands of intercounty hurling with Cork.
“You give players like that to any team, they're going to lift things,” O’Sullivan says of the brothers’ influence. “The lads are St Nick’s men, they're Glen men. They just happen to be elite athletes who play with Cork too. They've never not played for St Nick's.
“With every extra St Nick's man that comes into the dressing room, we get stronger and stronger. You can't underestimate the impact that Eoin and Rob have had. They're brilliant guys, they're brilliant footballers, they're brilliant athletes, but it takes a lot more than two lads to win too.”
Great to welcome @echolivecork @ExaminerSport renowned photographer @EddieOHare1 to last training session tonight
— St. Nick's GAA (@nicksgaa) October 9, 2025
Even gave him a cake as part of our long standing tradition
Be rude not to.
Thanks also to @adrianrussell for his piece@NBSHIPPING @nicksgaa pic.twitter.com/ww8xinWwMZ
With such a crossover of personnel, the challenge is to balance the competing priorities, like in any dual setup. Brosnan insists communication and mutual respect have been key to Nick's and the Glen progressing together.
“Look, I'm a realist,” says Brosnan. “We are a hurling club. We will be a hurling club. But that doesn't mean that the football isn't a very proud part of this club as well. And that's the great thing that we've had this year.
“We've had great respect between everyone and we've found a great balancing act. And that’s a good place to be for the club.”
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