'They're like a family': Tight-knit Uibh Laoire eager to write next chapter in club's history
Cathal Vaughan escapes the challenges of Castletownbere's Billy Murphy and Joe O'Neill. Pic: Anne Marie Cronin
Uibh Laoire are 60 minutes of football away from joining the senior ranks in Cork for the first time in their history.
So why is it that the club - situated in the small village of Inchigeelagh - has produced so much over the last five years that they now have the chance to annex a Premier Intermediate FC triumph, having won the Junior and Intermediate A titles in 2020 and 2021, respectively?
Uibh Laoire manager Barry Oldham estimates the population to be around the 500 mark - a small, tight-knit area where everyone knows each other, and everyone does their bit.
"The church was the local focal point going back through the years, but the GAA has taken over that," Oldham said. "All the families come to the football pitch, and they love it. You're never in bad form coming out of the football pitch; It's where people love to come, they love to meet.
"It's very important to the local community. They has really bought into this game on Sunday as well - the village is looking fantastic."
It's not just their community that is thriving on the football scene, as Oldham illustrated to the
"There's a massive nucleus of football (in the area). You go seven miles south, you're in Doheny territory - Senior A footballers, you go west another seven miles, you're in Ballingeary - the same parish as ourselves, they're Senior A. North seven miles, you've Cill na Marta. We're right in the middle of all that. It's unbelievable, that hotbed of football."
Uibh Laoire have marked out their own territory in every sense of the word, especially on the field.
"They're like a family. The team are so close. They're so closely-knit together," said Oldham, who has been in charge alongside coach Niall Allen for the past three campaigns.
"You always hear the clubs with players going to America, going to Australia. Our lads never did that. They stuck together down through the years, since they won that under-21 county against Kildorrery in 2012.
"If you look at that panel and if you look at Sunday's panel, you'll definitely see 20 players that were on that under-21 panel. They've just stuck together. We're lucky enough, people still come back to live here. It's what you need to keep a club going."
Examples of the family nature, togetherness and buy-in noted by Oldham aren't hard to come by.
"We have three lads coming home from London. Conor O'Leary, Barry O'Leary and Ciarán O'Riordan, they're working over there at the moment," Oldham explained.
"We have a lad living in Limerick, Ciarán Galvin. He goes up and down for training, for matches. Our wing-back Kevin Manning is coming from Scartaglen. It's a big commitment by the lads, and they deserve it because they've put 100% into it, and I really hope they get what they deserve on Sunday."
Standing in the way of the 2024 beaten semi-finalists on Sunday at Páirc Uí Chaoimh are fellow mid-Cork club Aghabullogue - last year's runners-up - looking to complete a similar feat in joining the senior ranks for the first time. Both have been in impressive form to date and both boast top-notch forward units.
Cork senior and the championship's leading marksman Chris Óg Jones has been driving the Uibh Laoire charge, aided by the undoubted talents of Cathal Vaughan, while Luke Casey and Matthew Bradley have been excellent for Ray Keane's Aghabullougue.
Uibh Laoire have won three of their four 2025 championship meetings by 10 points or more, the other a three-point win over Macroom, but Oldham is well aware of what Keane and Aghabullogue have achieved this year.
"We're under no illusions. Aghabullogue are a fantastic team. They should be favourites in my book. They've played all the tough teams, (particularly) Naomh Abán. I think the two best teams are probably in the final, Naomh Abán were definitely the third. At the start of the year, I was saying it would come down to three of us.
"They've had tough games, Aghabullogue, and they've come through them all... they've some fantastic players. We give them 100% respect but I'm happy with where we are but we have to turn up on the day, end of story."
So what of the pressure that comes with the whiff of opportunity that will exist in the Páirc Ui Chaoimh air this weekend?
"I don't think it's extra pressure," Oldham noted. "If you said to me seven or eight years ago, I would have said you were off your game... I never dreamt that we'd go on and win a Junior county, which is one of the hardest counties to win. I think it was six weeks later that we won the Intermediate A."
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