Aghabullogue happy to keep fight going on two fronts

The mid-Cork side are enjoying a golden period.

Mon, 03 Nov, 2025 - 09:11

Eoghan Cormican

Two hands on the silverware, one hand on the double.

With the calendar reading November and their championship programme now reading 10 victories from 11 outings, the dual diamonds of Aghabullogue should be dialing down for the season.

Time for reflection is not yet upon them. Proper savouring of a return to senior status after 112 years away will be left to those in the stands and on bar stools.

The calendar and championship programme of those giving magical Sunday after magical Sunday is only getting busier. The diary of the dual diamonds has very few blank pages.

This coming Sunday, Ray Keane and his promoted footballers are off to Templetuohy for a Munster quarter-final against Thurles Sarsfields. The Sunday after, they are back down the Páirc for the rescheduled Intermediate A hurling final against Bandon.

At the very least, they will still be going in some shape or form until November 16. The likelihood is, though, that barring upset on their travels, the Aghabullogue journey will run all the way into December.

It’s a journey of one group, as opposed to two teams.

It is far easier to count those who don’t play both codes than count those that do. Up to nine players, depending on selection and availability, hold first-team status across both.

Mind you, they’re far from just hurlers and footballers. It’s all kinds of everything out their patch of mid-Cork.

Match-winner Matthew Bradley is a road bowler. Fellow corner-forward Luke Casey was the matchwinner for the Irish Amateur football team in a midweek friendly five days before this county final.

“I didn't train Tuesday, had the soccer in Dublin on Wednesday, came back down that night, and then trained Thursday,” Casey explained of a hectic week in an ongoing hectic year.

“We won on Wednesday, I was hoping it was the start of a good week.” How about the start of a good month? Or even a good winter?

“This year has been one of the best sporting years ever. If you ask the lads inside there, they'll say, play everything,” the 24-year-old continued.

“After how 2024 ended, we were gutted to lose the replay to Kilshannig. To get back here, to win, and to get into Munster, it is unbelievable. I don't know when it ends, but we'll keep going until it does.”

Captain and second-half green flag contributor John Corkery pulled out a sheet of paper at the presentation area. Nothing wrong with being prepared - on and off the field.

He opened by asking the delighted locals to bear with him. The list of those to be thanked and acknowledged ran nearly as long as the number of county finals Aghabullogue have appeared in since the turn of this decade.

There are golden periods and there is Aghabullogue's half decade. Six seasons of pride, pleasure, prizes, and promotion.

2020 Intermediate A hurling finalists. 2022 Intermediate A football finalists. 2023 Intermediate A hurling and football champions. 2024 Premier Intermediate football finalists.

The 2025 inscription remains outstanding. Twelve months after football final heartache and hurling relegation, they are one hour from a second double in three years.

Casey’s six-month League of Ireland stint with Cobh Ramblers meant he was a late arrival onto the club scene two years ago. He didn’t tog for the hurling decider win, was introduced eight minutes from time in the football victory over Mitchelstown.

He arrived into yesterday as their top-scorer with 6-12 from play. He embellished that total with another 1-3. His sixth minute green flag was finished soccer-style to the City End net.

“I have been in here five times, but this is only my second time starting after last year. You are training all year in the muck and rain, and then you get to come in here and showcase your skills in the second- or third-best stadium in the country, that is what you want. To show the effort that we did, in this arena, is unbelievable.

“To lift the Cup in front of everyone, it is a real community thing. I am just delighted for everyone from Aghabullogue, Coachford, and Rylane.” They succeeded in fraying the nerves of that following throughout an opening half of squander. Colm Gillespie and Adam Murphy won seven of the opposition’s opening nine kickouts. Their forward colleagues ran up five wides in the same period. There was also a Pauric O’Sullivan goal shot denied by Joe Creedon.

Uibh Laoire were the antithesis of waste. If you wanted a bike shed built under budget, they were your men. 2-5 constructed off eight shots to lead by five approaching the break.

“I didn't even think it was a five-point game, but the Cathal Vaughan two-pointers were a sucker-punch. But then just before half-time, Adam Murphy kicked one and it went from five to three. We got another point after (from Casey himself), so we were well in it.

“We went up four and kicked it away again. The character to get back, I can't question anyone in that dressing-room for what they give to the cause.” In the midst of Uibh Laoire’s inconsolable state at full-time, countless men in red had the self-awareness to seek out and shake the hand of Aghabullogue corner-back Dhani Merrick, who lost his wife, Kerry, to cancer at the beginning of last month.

“The one thing I can say about the dressing-room is that our character can never be questioned because some of the things people have been through over the last couple of weeks, there is character oozing through them,” Casey remarked.

“That point from Matthew at the end will go down in our club forever. To be now playing senior football, for a club like us, a village, is massive.”