Bride Rovers climb to top but their ceiling is higher
A Bride Rovers supporter after defeating Castleyons the Co-Op Superstores S'A'HC final replay at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Picture: Eddie O'Hare
For a team climbing onto the top club shelf, the Bride Rovers age profile is favourable. Very, very favourable.
Seven of Saturday’s starting team - Denis Cashman, Conor Hazelwood, man of the match Cillian Tobin, matchwinner David Barry, 1-7 scriptwriter Adam Walsh, Cormac O’Sullivan, and Josh Ahern - are still U21. The first sub in - Ronan O’Connell - is also U21.
Captain Conleith Ryan, the hugely influential Roche twins, and others were born four years earlier in 2000.
The point being made is that with only one starter north of 30, that defender Jamie Peters, Bride Rovers step up with their best years still in front of them.
It is not their youthfulness alone, mind, that we want to admire. It is more the steadfastness of a group so young and who’ve been confronted with such sporting adversity both the weekend gone and in recent years.
Not all of the names listed above were around for all four of the semi-final defeats from 2021-24. But they were present for enough of them to know the last-four hurdle had become a psychological brick wall for the club.
Indeed, they were all present for the controversial semi-final exit two years ago when their initial penalty shootout victory over Blarney was declared null and void, and a replay ordered, because of a 16th Bride Rovers player on the field at the moment of their extra-time leveler.
Such hardship is now a footnote on their successful road to the Premier Senior ranks.
The last leg of that journey almost saw them stumble once again.
When Castlelyons midfielder Eoin Maye struck his second point on 53 minutes, Bride Rovers found themselves 2-14 to 1-11 behind.
Their neighbours, having responded to the concession of Adam Walsh’s lead goal on 36 minutes with green flags of their own from David Morrison, on 42 minutes, and Leon Doocey four minutes later, had one hand on the silver pot.
The superb Castlelyons captain Colm Spillane, though, never got to climb the steps. Castlelyons never scored again beyond Maye’s white flag. They were instead floored by a Bride Rovers 1-4 burst that swung the replay in as dramatic fashion as you can imagine.
The aforementioned Peters began the 11th hour comeback. Walsh tagged on another point after Brian Roche was fouled during the last of his three successive - and smothered - goal drives.
The goal that returned them to contention was beyond fortuitous. Paddy O’Flynn’s half point attempt, half delivery bounced into the net on 58 minutes. The deficit cut to the minimum.
Bride Rovers were now banging down the neighbours' door. After a three-in-a-row of chances failed to bring an equaliser, sweeper Cillian Tobin, from his own 45-metre line, leveled matters 46 seconds into injury-time.
The winner arrived just under a minute and a half later. David Barry delivered Bride Rovers’ opener, he also delivered their closer. The Rathcormac and Bartlemy kids, who lost their topflight status in the 2020 regrading, will wear Premier Senior clothes in 2026.
“Castlelyons were outstanding today, but for what the lads have gone through the last two years, just different things, they were fantastic the last two years; their attitude, they never bitched or moaned about anything, they just got on with it. Fantastic attitude, never-say-die, and you saw that again today,” remarked Bride Rovers boss Brian Murphy.
“They just keep going, keep going. They deserve this. What they have been through the last three, four years, it has been nothing short of phenomenal to come back here.”
After leaving 22 scoring opportunities behind them in the 0-14 apiece draw, Bride Rovers brought similar levels of waste when following a three-point lead inside nine minutes with just two further white flags across the remainder of the half.
They were not alone, mind. Their first-half wide count of eight was two less than their opponents. 0-9 to 0-5 was the interval scoreline.
“After 10 minutes here, you are saying, we are three points to nothing up and they are in a good place. But then, all of a sudden, the wheels came off slightly from there to half-time,” Murphy, a two-time All-Ireland winner in red, continued.
“They are getting the rewards they deserve. They have put in all the work. The population is increasing [in Rathcormac] as houses are being built, so that is always a big help. But a lot of these lads, they were playing in teams when we didn't have the population. It is not just population. It is hard work. I can't praise the guys enough.”
A Walsh (1-7, 0-6 frees); P O’Flynn (1-1); D Barry (0-2); C Tobin, J Peters, S O’Connor, B Roche, C O’Sullivan (0-1 each).
L Doocey (1-1); A Fenton (0-3, 0-2 frees); D Morrison (1-0); E Maye, K O’Leary, A Spillane (0-2 each); S Moroney, C Spillane, N O’Leary, J Kearney (0-1 each).
C Hogan; E Roche, D Cashman, C Tobin; J Ahern, C Hazelwood, S O’Connor; J Peters, C O’Sullivan; P O’Flynn, B Roche, A Walsh; K Kearney, C Ryan, D Barry.
R O’Connell for K Kearney (40); J Mannix for O’Sullivan (53).
J Barry; D Spillane, C Barry, C Spillane; S Moroney, N O’Leary, C McCarthy; J Kearney, E Maye; S Cotter, A Fenton, L Doocey; K O’Leary, D Morrison, A Spillane.
B Spillane for Morrison (56).
M Maher.
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