“WE DON’T FORGET that we were down for 51 years. We’re in a great time at the moment and we’re looking to keep it going all the time. But we’ll never forget that we were down for 51 years. We’re certainly going to enjoy our victories now.”
Kieran ‘Fraggy’ Murphy stood on the pitch in Páirc Uí Chaoimh yesterday afternoon, soaking up the feeling that comes with a fourth county title win in seven years. The 31 year-old and his Sarsfields colleagues steam rolled their way to this latest success – a 2-18 to 0-8 win illustrating the wide chasm between themselves and Glen Rovers.
But the familiarity of glory has not bred complacency in the Riverstown-based club. It wasn’t the memories of the three title wins in 2008, 2010 and 2012 that guided their thinking before this season’s final.
Instead it was the hurt of last year’s loss in the decider when Conor Lehane inspired Midleton to glory. The knowledge that Sarsfields endured a long barren run between 1957 and 2008 fuels the desire for the players to mine as many trophies as they can in the modern era.
“I started playing senior hurling when I was 16,” recalls ex-Cork captain Murphy. “I’ll never forget it against Ballyhea down in Fermoy and we were beaten. And I can tell you for seven, eight years after that, we were nowhere near winning a county. We’d great teams but never performed when it came to it.
“We stood here last year and watched Midleton go up and collect the cup. Midleton deserved it on the day. The way we lost it last year, we probably felt that Midleton outworked us and outfought us. The one thing we said this year was it wasn’t going to happen.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a team as focused and determined as they were coming in to this game today. I think you saw it in the performance that was out there. Every man to a tee just put everything on the line. It was probably the best performance that Sars have put on for the last few years.”
The sense of contentment at this senior win for Sarsfields is heightened by the fact that the club have already collected county crowns at U16 and minor level already this year.
They’ve conquered hurling in Cork but can they take the next step in Munster? Save an opening round win in 2008 over Clonlara, the provincial campaigns have been fruitless for Sarsfields as they have fell short at the semi-final stage.
“The last few years, we’ve disappointed ourselves in Munster,” admits Murphy. “We came up against De La Salle two years in a row when they were very strong. We’re going to enjoy this over the next couple of days.
“We’ve four weeks to the next game and look all we can do is give it everything we have to try to get success in Munster. We’ve let ourselves down the last few years. We’re really hungry for Munster this year.”