Russell Rovers returned to the winners' circle of Cork hurling this weekend, with their first county final victory in five years against St. Catherine's.
Rovers won the Cork Premier Junior Hurling Championship in 2019 and went on to reach the All-Ireland final that season, losing out to Conahy Shamrocks of Kilkenny.
Sunday saw them return to the Cork junior final at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoímh, with the Shanagarry club facing off with St. Catherine's of Ballynoe - who themselves lost out in last year's All-Ireland junior final.
Co Op Superstores Cork Premier Junior Hurling Championship Final
Full Time @russellrovers 3-13@StCatherinesGAA 0-15@CoOpSuperstores
Photo Courtesy of @GeorgeHatchell2 pic.twitter.com/hrFuTV7ICu— Cork GAA (@OfficialCorkGAA) November 3, 2024
Goals were the key for Russell Rovers, who went in at half-time seven points up (1-8 to 0-4) thanks in part to Brian Hartnett's goal after just three minutes.
Catherine's made up strong ground in the second half, drawing to within three points with just over ten minutes to go, before late goals from Rovers' Ciarán Sheehan and Luke Duggan Murray securing a memorable 3-13 to 0-15 victory.
It has set up a Munster semi-final with Moyle Rovers in two weeks' time, and there was plenty of praise for Russell Rovers coach Dónal Óg Cusack around Sunday's superb county final triumph.
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Dónal Óg Cusack plays pivotal role in clinching Cork championship for Russell Rovers
Three times an All-Ireland winner with Cork, Dónal Óg Cusack took up a coaching role with Russell Rovers for the 2024 season, with his appointment announced last December. He had previously coached many of Sunday's team just under a decade ago, when his club Cloyne merged with Rovers at minor level and won the Cork Premier 2 MHC.
Evidently, it has been a successful pairing, with Cusack on the bench at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoímh for Sunday's county final triumph.
The two-time All-Star had been singled out for praise by centre-back James Kennefick ahead of the final against St. Catherine's.
Speaking to the Cork Echo ahead of the decider, Kennefick said that Cusack had reinvigorated the team's training sessions, bringing a newfound intensity while allowing ample player power.
After three seasons under Tommy Ryan, a fresh voice was no harm.
Tommy is an excellent coach and you saw how well he did with Dungourney this year. We were lucky then to get Donal Óg on board. He would have been familiar with us anyway. He would have coached the core of the group at minor level nearly ten years ago. He is stone mad for hurling as everyone knows and he has increased the standards.
The intensity at training is massive and the ideas he has brought to us, but it’s fairly player-driven. Donal Óg gives us the power to take it on ourselves.
He’s a top-class coach and we are lucky enough to have him. There’s a good management team with him too. We are getting the rewards from the hard work.
The praise afforded to Cusack ahead of Sunday's final was repeated by manager Dave Dorgan after the full-time whistle.
Dorgan said that his coaching team had gotten their 'just rewards' with victory in the county final, summing up the significance of the day for Russell Rovers.
It is a huge, huge day and it is great for us to get over the line. I got involved with Dónal Óg (Cusack) and the rest of the management team this year. We’ve worked well, worked hard as an overall group. Just rewards for everybody today.
Cork champions Russell Rovers will face Tipperary's Moyle Rovers in the Munster junior semi-final in just under two weeks.
