Sarsfields aiming to match ‘best-ever year’

Cork SHC champions Sarsfields hold their agm tonight, beginning the quest to match what club chairman Tadhg Murphy describes as the club’s "best-ever year".

The senior title is wintering in Glanmire for the fourth time in seven years, joined by the Premier 1 minor and U16 hurling trophies. Murphy is happy that the club are riding the crest of a wave but is keen to ensure nothing is taken for granted.

“Since 2007, we’ve enjoyed a golden era,” he said. “We’ve won four senior counties, three minor counties, four East Cork U21s and then titles at all age groups, U12 up to U16.

“Even this year, the camogie club won the U16, U18 and intermediate county titles, so it has been an exceptionally good time.”

The successes of 2014 were the perfect way to mark the 25th anniversary of the first time the club had bought land of its own.

“Up until 1989, we were leasing the pitch from the Canavan family, who owned the Castle Tavern,” Murphy said.

“We had been renting the field for about 70 or 80 years and the opportunity arose to buy it. All that was here was a dressing room building and a small hall, but it’s since then the real work has taken place, we’ve invested around €2m since then. It has been hard and tough at times but we felt like it was the right way to go. We had an area which was growing, obviously, the population of Glanmire now is just under 16,000.

“We wanted to put something in place for the bigger numbers which were going to be coming on board.”