Glen Rovers boss Tomás Mulcahy: No disrespect but beating the Barrs makes it sweeter

DISBELIEF: Glen Rovers boss Tomás Mulcahy momentarily keeps his emotions in check after their Cork Premier SHC final win over St Finbarr's at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Pic: David Ribeiro, Inpho

Ten years since their last Cork Premier Senior title. Three finals lost on the trot between 2019 and 2021. An unconscionable relegation to the second tier only three years. And now St Finbarr’s standing between them and that 28th title in the decider.

Every county decider comes loaded with tension, pressure. Rarely has one been played on the back of so much talk about shared history, nostalgic rivalry and the need not just to win but to stop the other crowd from doing it too.

Glen manager Tomás Mulcahy felt it. They all did, on both sides.

“Once we got to a final, and when the Barrs had made it through on their side as well, there was a lot of momentum gathered in terms of the Barrs and the Glen rivalry and what has gone on in the past, and the great players that represented both clubs.

“We kind of have an onus on ourselves, we see the former players and managers of teams and to continue the tradition that's in Glen Rovers, that has been there in Blackpool for so many, many years.

“So many great players that played with the club and then went on to play with Cork, and we have to keep that tradition going. There's an onus on us, right? When you're finished playing, you go back and you do something to help out.

“And to get success today, it's just incredible. It probably makes it sweeter. And that's no disrespect to the Barrs because a lot was being made of it. Massive crowd there today. Great atmosphere, great buzz, and when you come all round the right end of that, it means a lot.”

Rob Downey spoke after the win about how the club game at this level is basically a cipher for the county game. And he should know. Eoin O’Leary, whose two second-half goals proved so influential, put it in more basic terms.

“I remember January, February and I don’t think anyone wanted to go training,” said the 22-year old student who finished the championships as the Glen’s top scorer from play. “We nearly didn’t have a team for the summer because everyone wanted to quit.”

When Tommy Dunne wasn’t able to commit to another year of commuting up and down from Nenagh Mulcahy went and brought Donal O’Rourke and his “sidekick” Sé O’Donoghue on board.

The entire backroom team he built was a monument to excellence. Eighteen people in total that were listed on the matchday programme and one of whom, the renowned S&C coach Ian Jones, Mulcahy made a particular point of mentioning.

“They put in the level that was needed in terms of strength and conditioning, and I'm glad that Jonesy said those two words - strength of conditioning - may now be going. It's about building a base now. It's about field fitness. It's about different types of fitness.

“I was delighted to hear that, and pulling guys back from overdoing the weights was instrumental to where we were. Hurling is a field game. It's all about playing on the field as well, and movement and flexibility as well, and that's the way it's moved to.

“We went through those months there, early months, it was tough. Guys suffered down the bottom field in the Glen. Difficult months, but we just reminded them that at half-time, ‘we're not throwing that away’.” That mental resilience would have been tested at the break.

The Glen had done a lot of the hurling and found themselves two points down. Simon Kennefick had rattled the crossbar and too many shots trailed wide, especially in a first quarter where both teams struggled to match the pre-game hype.

There is a touch of the old school to Mulcahy that he is the first to own up to and there was a part of him through all this that couldn’t help but think ‘where does it all end?’ Stats, video analysis. Every little crumb shoved under a microscope for clues.

Talk of matchups had peppered the papers and the podcasts all week. Would Damien Cahillane pick up Patrick Hoggie. How would Rob Downey do when, inevitably, he sidled in close to Bruan Hayes for company? Who would the Glen put on William Buckley.

This was a game littered with inter-county talent on both sides but big days have a habit of presenting us with leading men and women whose name recognition may not carry as far beyond the boundaries of their own club or county.

Eoin O’Leary, with his two goals, was that man here. For all the prep and the study and the foundations put in place by the men on the sideline, it still falls to the guy who gets the sliotar in his hand at the crucial moments.

“It was Micheal Mullins the last day and Eoin On O'Leary has done this so often,” said Mulcahy. “When we were down in Castletownroche against Kanturk, Eoin O’Leary pops up with a great goal, pops up with points as well, right?

“So to a man, you have to just thank the players. Forget about me, and forget about our backroom. It's all about the players. They're the guys that go over the white line.”