‘We kept going to the end’ - Thurles Sarsfields manager lauds players hard work in final win

For a club comfortable with county championship success, the reaction of Thurles Sarsfields players, mentors, and followers to Sunday’s win over Rockwell Rovers in the FBD Insurance County Intermediate Football Final at Bansha was euphoric.

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The club boasts more county senior hurling championships than any other and has county titles also in all the hurling grades, but football successes have been few and far between. 

A county minor title in 2005 and county junior football crowns in 1989 and 2022 underline the latent potential in the club to build on the successes of Durlas Óg at the juvenile level, but what makes Sunday’s win so special is that it qualifies the club for the senior grade next year.

Not since the late fifties has the club competed at senior level, winning the last of its three divisional senior titles in 1952, a team captained by the late county secretary Tommy Barrett. The sixties saw the emergence of Thurles Crokes, winners of the county senior title in 1960, the only time the county senior title came to the town. 

Stalwarts like Conor O’Dwyer, the late Larry O’Connor, and the late Gerry McEntee kept the football flame burning for many years, and Conor, joint manager and player with the ’89 team, was among those celebrating Sunday’s success in Bansha.

Next year, Sarsfields will have the chance to bridge that gap as they square up to Loughmore Castleiney, JK Brackens, and Upperchurch-Drombane in the Mid. Of more immediate concern is a Munster club engagement with Cork champions Aughabullogue this weekend, for which Sars will have home venue. It is a mighty task, but one that the group will relish.

The recent successes have been masterminded by former Cork footballer and former Tipp senior football manager Peter Creedon, along with Declan Costello and Pat Bracken, and this year, Corkman Tony Smith and Tommy Toomey joined the backroom team. 

Like the players, they were subjected to much back-slapping, hugs, and handshakes by delighted supporters, and team captain Kieran Costello, in accepting the Barrett Cup, paid tribute to the players and management for what had been achieved.

In the immediate aftermath of Sunday’s win, Peter Creedon was full of praise for his players. “They worked so hard and kept at it right to the end. Rockwell Rovers were superb, but the training we did every Monday night and the lads’ commitment to it paid off,” he said.

He added, “We kept going all to the end, and while I felt we missed chances that could have put some daylight between us, we are just happy to have come through. We have had a few one-point wins and extra time too, but it shows the stuff that is in the lads that they were able to cope.”

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