Before he spoke about Mount Sion's Waterford SHC semi-final victory over De La Salle, Austin Gleeson wanted to address the tragedy which hit the De Bromhead family, and the county, on Saturday.
Aged just 13, Jack de Bromhead - the son of national hunt trainer Henry de Bromhead - died following an accident during a pony race on Rossbeigh beach near Glenbeigh in Kerry. The De Bromhead stables are based in Knockeen, County Waterford.
"Firstly, I just want to send condolences from everyone in Mount Sion to Henry de Bromhead, and his family," Gleeson told RTÉ Radio One's Sunday Sport.
"It was a tragic, tragic incident in Kerry. It's a hard one to take. Everyone in Waterford will be there for them."
9 March 2020; Trainer Henry de Bromhead on the gallops ahead of the Cheltenham Racing Festival at Prestbury Park in Cheltenham, England. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
Mount Sion won Sunday's second semi-final 1-19 to 2-12, a much closer game than the first which saw Ballygunner defeat Roanmore by 11 points.
"We knew coming in that it was going to be a dog fight," said Gleeson.
"They're our neighbours, only a stone's throw away. We knew exactly what they'd bring, and we just had to bring a bit more. We didn't go as well as we wanted to in the first half. That's all down to their hunger, and tenacity. We just had to answer. Thankfully, in the second half, we upped out game a small bit.
"I don't know what it was like off the field, but on the field it was a tough game. It was hard to catch your breath at stages.
"It was a great goal. Anyone from Mount Sion would tell you that if you wanted one person in front of the goal on the ball, it'd be Martin O'Neill. He has an unbelievable strike off the left - he has to work on the right a small bit!
"It was a humdinger of a game. We're glad we were on the right side of it."
The final will be Mount Sion's first since the 2014 defeat to Ballygunner.
"It's hard to say that when there's only two fellas that would have played in more than one county championship final," said Gleeson when put to him that the club is back where they belong.
"We have to create our own history. We'll try our best next week, but we have a mammoth task ahead of us. The eight-time champions, All-Ireland champions. We'll regroup for the next week, and try to recover.
"2014, they care of us very handy that day in Walsh Park. That was the last time we got there. We thought at that time, as bunch of young lads, that we'd back there a couple of times, but I think we've lost five or six semi-finals since."
JJ Kavanagh and Sons Senior Hurling Championship Semi Final
Full time
Mount Sion: 1-19(22)
De La Salle : 2-12(18)— Waterford GAA (@WaterfordGAA) September 4, 2022
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