“It’s crazy really” | Monaleen manager Eoin Brislane on their journey to All-Ireland final

It will be a maiden All-Ireland final for the City side in their history following Sunday’s semi-final victory.

Monaleen booked their place in the All-Ireland Intermediate Hurling Club Championship final on Sunday following a 2-19 to 0-20 semi-final victory over Bray Emmets in O’Connor Park.

It was a tight contest throughout, with either side able to pull away from the other as they exchanged points up until the last ten minutes of the second half.

Andrew La Touche Cosgrave found the back of the net with eight left to play to put the Limerick PIHC champions two to the good but were drawn back by their Wicklow opponents four minutes later with extra-time looming. However, a second goal through Dan Power restored their lead and they took full control from there to book their place in Croke Park.

Reacting to the game, Monaleen manager Eoin Brislane labeled the affair as ‘nail-biting stuff’ and was full of praise for their opponents who only booked their place in the semi-final eight days prior. The Tipperary man also applauded the effort of his own players who were made to ‘grind it out’ against the Wicklow champions.

“We were expecting nothing else, it really was [a titanic battle], it was nail-biting stuff there. We really had the foot to the floor there you know and we got the goals at the right time.

“But listen all credit to Bray they were absolutely super there, especially after playing a Leinster final last Saturday to turn around in 7/8 days it’s a credit to them. But from our own point of view I’m delighted with our lads that we kept sticking to the process, kept sticking to the plan, we did find the space before the end but we had to grind it out today, a real battle, a great game.”

After their relegation from the Senior championship in 2021, Brislane admitted that their main objective this year was to not slip further than the Premier Intermediate and to potentially solidify their place for the coming season.

Twelve months, a county final, a provincial final and an All-Ireland semi-final have passed and Monaleen are now sixty minutes away from being crowned the best Intermediate hurling team in the country which is yet to sink in for their own manager.

“I’m at the the six-man committee at the start of the year and their whole thing was to get us to the last four in Limerick, don’t let it slide anymore, that was basically the plan and anything outside that was a bonus.

“So to get to a county final was brilliant, to win a county final was brilliant, to go on and beat Doora Barefield was excellent, to go on and beat Roscrea which is unheard of was super altogether and then today, we’ve just been taking it game by game and now we’re in an All-Ireland final, from the last four in Limerick to the last two in Ireland, it’s crazy really.”

Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.

YouTube privacy policy

If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.

Accept YouTube Content

History awaits the City side who have the chance to become only the third Limerick club to claim All-Ireland honours when they face Mayo’s Tooreen in January’s All-Ireland Final.