This is uncharted territory for Éire Óg’s current crop of hurlers.
In a first Senior County hurling final since 2000 and trying to end a 32 year wait since last lifting the Canon Hamilton, Éire Óg manager Matt Shannon believes the Townies’ win over Sixmilebridge was an example of how perseverance pays off as the club prepare for an historic occasion on Sunday.
“You need to get the breaks along the way and maybe we got one or two there at the end, but I firmly believe if you keep knocking on the door that you will be hoping eventually that the door will open. That was our third semi final so maybe we had served our time to get over the line.”
Éire Óg have unlocked one door but another one remains to be broken through as they try and dethrone the reigning senior hurling champions Ballyea.
Madden is relishing the challenge of trying to down the champions as he feels this Éire Óg side are relishing a shot at KO’ing the champions.
“Them and Sixmilebridge have all the titles over the past seven years. They have been there and they know what it takes to win. We know we are in for some battle but at the same time you want to embrace the challenge. I’m really looking forward to it now to be honest. A real proper test to come we know that.”
Shannon admits that trying to help the dual players avoid injury has been a tough task.
“It’s week on week. Myself and Paul (Madden) would be talking more often than our own actual management teams because at the end of the day it’s the players that are the most important in all this and we have a lot of dual players. It’s about managing them and keeping them on the field.
“We have a good rapport and we’ve been on the road together a while. Since I came in Paul’s been there so we do the best for the players as much as possible. At the end of the day they are what counts most.”
Now in his fourth year at the helm of Éire Óg, manager Matt Shannon can now be classed as an experienced campaigner on the sideline.
With two of those campaigns influenced by the pandemic, it’s fair to say the Townies manager has experience in the bank. However, Shannon insists that he is always keen to learn more as he credits his management team of Gerry O’Connor, Ronan Cooney and Barry Nugent for bringing fresh ideas to the table.
“You are always learning. I’ve a good team around me. I firmly believe that you need strong characters around and I have that in the management group we all have strong views. I think that’s very important and to be open to them.
“Nobody knows it all so you need to hop as many ideas as possible off each other to come up with the best one. I think we do that fairly well.”