IT’S NOT THAT long since the Duhallow Junior Hurling and Football Championships were Kanturk’s Everest.
Now, they are seeking to become the first Duhallow team in history to reach the Cork Premier Senior Hurling final as they face St Finbarr’s on Sunday (Páirc Uí Chaoimh, 2pm — live on Clubber).
Their corner of North West Cork, tucked between the Boggeragh, Derrynasaggart, and Mullaghareirk Mountains, borders Kerry and Limerick and is far more renowned for its football devotion.
Rugby also has a strong presence in the town, with Kanturk RFC spending five years in the All-Ireland League in the past decade, while the local cycling club has fostered talents such as Vuelta a Espana stage-winner Eddie Dunbar, who hails from nearby Banteer.
In the five county-wide grades of Cork hurling, which encompass the Rebels’ top 60 teams, Kanturk are the only Duhallow club present. Right now, they are trekking towards the highest summit.
Kanturk is the largest town in the region with around 3,000 residents. Yet from 1969 to 2002, the club went without a Duhallow hurling title and from 1962 to 2009 without claiming their local football prize.
It has been a generational Kanturk team which has pushed this transformation from a dual junior club, which ended those decades-long droughts, to dual senior, featuring six county titles along the way. Not to mention Munster and All-Ireland Intermediate hurling crowns annexed during their invincible 2017/18 campaign, when they won 16 consecutive championship games across both codes.
The video of that Duhallow hurling breakthrough from 2002 stars a teenage Anthony Nash talking about the “nerve-racking” experience heading into that final and a 12-year-old Aidan Walsh smiling into the camera amid the celebrations as captain Cathal Cronin is interviewed.
Aidan’s uncle, Jerome, who was centre-forward on that team and is father to five of the current Kanturk senior squad, is also featured.
Nash would go on to make 78 hurling championship appearances for the club and Aidan Walsh 76 before transferring away to South Liberties and An Ghaeltacht after distinguished years of service.
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Anthony Nash and Aidan Walsh celebrate Kanturk's 2018 All-Ireland IHC triumph. Gary Carr / INPHO
Gary Carr / INPHO / INPHO
Lorcán McLoughlin, a midfield warrior for Cork in the 2013 All-Ireland final, carries on that experience alongside his elder brother John. Between hurling and football, they have played a monumental 342 championship games for their club.
It was a championship restructure in 2004 which lifted Kanturk out of the Junior A grade. One year later, John McLoughlin made his debut against Blackrock’s second team.
Two decades on, McLoughlin was corner-back as Kanturk dumped out the Rockies in a famous landslide which announced them as bona fide Premier Senior title contenders.
Anthony Nash, Aidan Walsh, John McLoughlin, and Lorcán McLoughlin celebrate Kanturk's 2013 Cork IHC triumph. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
That afternoon, it was their new wave of talent which provided most of the scoring damage.
Aidan Walsh, a 2010 All-Ireland-winning footballer and two-time All-Star, may have moved away, but his brother Tommy and five first cousins – Ian, Paul, Ryan, Alan, and Colin – remain central to the team, which is managed by Aidan and Tommy’s father, Tom.
Alan and Colin provide their key point of difference, with their aerial ability, physicality, and finishing doing so much damage under puck-outs and on the edge of the square. Could they yet be teaming up together in red?
They combined to win a first-minute penalty against Blackrock, which Cork midfielder Brian O’Sullivan, whose placed-ball accuracy has made him the championship’s top scorer (2-44), arrowed to the net.
They led 1-10 to 0-2 after 21 minutes, 1-16 to 0-5 at half-time, and rounded off an 11-point victory over the record winners.
Their next act was to dethrone Sarsfields, the reigning champions, in the quarter-finals to truly cement their elevated status. Three goals inside 35 minutes had them eight up, but they still needed a fourth from Colin Walsh, laid on by Alan, to hang on, 4-19 to 1-25.
In 2023 and ‘25, Kanturk didn’t pick up a win in the group stage, beating Glen Rovers to stay up in the former season. Yet, with an injection of youth, including Cork U20 Conor Noonan, and others reaching their peak, Kanturk have added a major attacking edge.
They are the competition’s highest scorers, with 10-95 accumulated across four games.
That 2023 relegation match-up could yet be repeated in the 2026 county final if Kanturk and the Glen can see off St Finbarr’s and Midleton.
Cork hurler Alan Walsh celebrates his goal in the All-Ireland SHC semi-final against Galway at Croke Park. Tom O’Hanlon / INPHO
Tom O’Hanlon / INPHO / INPHO
The North Cork side have had no time to kick back between games. Twelve of the 15 starters have been regulars on the football team that has reached the Senior A semi-finals.
During their three previous seasons at the grade, the 2022 Premier Intermediate winners have been knocked out by the eventual champions. All three games went to extra-time, with two decided on penalties.
After their local derby victory over Kilshannig to reach the semi-finals last weekend, manager Eoghan O’Connor lauded “our first time winning a senior football knockout game for over 100 years”.
“Certainly, this is a big occasion for us,” Tom Walsh told C103 of their upcoming hurling semi-final, another first in the club’s history. “We went to Croke Park with the intermediates, but this is a bigger occasion.”
Cork’s most recent first-time finalists were Bishopstown in 2012. The latest breakthrough winners were Newtownshandrum in 2000.
Breaking up the duopoly of city clubs and East Cork satellite towns on county final day will be no easy feat, but Kanturk have the track record of scalps to make them live contenders.
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Kanturk reaching new heights for Duhallow hurling as they target Cork SHC history
IT’S NOT THAT long since the Duhallow Junior Hurling and Football Championships were Kanturk’s Everest.
Now, they are seeking to become the first Duhallow team in history to reach the Cork Premier Senior Hurling final as they face St Finbarr’s on Sunday (Páirc Uí Chaoimh, 2pm — live on Clubber).
Their corner of North West Cork, tucked between the Boggeragh, Derrynasaggart, and Mullaghareirk Mountains, borders Kerry and Limerick and is far more renowned for its football devotion.
Rugby also has a strong presence in the town, with Kanturk RFC spending five years in the All-Ireland League in the past decade, while the local cycling club has fostered talents such as Vuelta a Espana stage-winner Eddie Dunbar, who hails from nearby Banteer.
In the five county-wide grades of Cork hurling, which encompass the Rebels’ top 60 teams, Kanturk are the only Duhallow club present. Right now, they are trekking towards the highest summit.
Kanturk is the largest town in the region with around 3,000 residents. Yet from 1969 to 2002, the club went without a Duhallow hurling title and from 1962 to 2009 without claiming their local football prize.
It has been a generational Kanturk team which has pushed this transformation from a dual junior club, which ended those decades-long droughts, to dual senior, featuring six county titles along the way. Not to mention Munster and All-Ireland Intermediate hurling crowns annexed during their invincible 2017/18 campaign, when they won 16 consecutive championship games across both codes.
The video of that Duhallow hurling breakthrough from 2002 stars a teenage Anthony Nash talking about the “nerve-racking” experience heading into that final and a 12-year-old Aidan Walsh smiling into the camera amid the celebrations as captain Cathal Cronin is interviewed.
Aidan’s uncle, Jerome, who was centre-forward on that team and is father to five of the current Kanturk senior squad, is also featured.
Nash would go on to make 78 hurling championship appearances for the club and Aidan Walsh 76 before transferring away to South Liberties and An Ghaeltacht after distinguished years of service.
Lorcán McLoughlin, a midfield warrior for Cork in the 2013 All-Ireland final, carries on that experience alongside his elder brother John. Between hurling and football, they have played a monumental 342 championship games for their club.
It was a championship restructure in 2004 which lifted Kanturk out of the Junior A grade. One year later, John McLoughlin made his debut against Blackrock’s second team.
Two decades on, McLoughlin was corner-back as Kanturk dumped out the Rockies in a famous landslide which announced them as bona fide Premier Senior title contenders.
That afternoon, it was their new wave of talent which provided most of the scoring damage.
Aidan Walsh, a 2010 All-Ireland-winning footballer and two-time All-Star, may have moved away, but his brother Tommy and five first cousins – Ian, Paul, Ryan, Alan, and Colin – remain central to the team, which is managed by Aidan and Tommy’s father, Tom.
Alan and Colin provide their key point of difference, with their aerial ability, physicality, and finishing doing so much damage under puck-outs and on the edge of the square. Could they yet be teaming up together in red?
They combined to win a first-minute penalty against Blackrock, which Cork midfielder Brian O’Sullivan, whose placed-ball accuracy has made him the championship’s top scorer (2-44), arrowed to the net.
They led 1-10 to 0-2 after 21 minutes, 1-16 to 0-5 at half-time, and rounded off an 11-point victory over the record winners.
Their next act was to dethrone Sarsfields, the reigning champions, in the quarter-finals to truly cement their elevated status. Three goals inside 35 minutes had them eight up, but they still needed a fourth from Colin Walsh, laid on by Alan, to hang on, 4-19 to 1-25.
In 2023 and ‘25, Kanturk didn’t pick up a win in the group stage, beating Glen Rovers to stay up in the former season. Yet, with an injection of youth, including Cork U20 Conor Noonan, and others reaching their peak, Kanturk have added a major attacking edge.
They are the competition’s highest scorers, with 10-95 accumulated across four games.
That 2023 relegation match-up could yet be repeated in the 2026 county final if Kanturk and the Glen can see off St Finbarr’s and Midleton.
The North Cork side have had no time to kick back between games. Twelve of the 15 starters have been regulars on the football team that has reached the Senior A semi-finals.
During their three previous seasons at the grade, the 2022 Premier Intermediate winners have been knocked out by the eventual champions. All three games went to extra-time, with two decided on penalties.
After their local derby victory over Kilshannig to reach the semi-finals last weekend, manager Eoghan O’Connor lauded “our first time winning a senior football knockout game for over 100 years”.
“Certainly, this is a big occasion for us,” Tom Walsh told C103 of their upcoming hurling semi-final, another first in the club’s history. “We went to Croke Park with the intermediates, but this is a bigger occasion.”
Cork’s most recent first-time finalists were Bishopstown in 2012. The latest breakthrough winners were Newtownshandrum in 2000.
Breaking up the duopoly of city clubs and East Cork satellite towns on county final day will be no easy feat, but Kanturk have the track record of scalps to make them live contenders.
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Cork GAA cork premier shc Cork SHC duhallow gaa GAA Gaelic Football Hurling kanturk gaa new contenders