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29 Dec 2025
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29 Dec 2025
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PICTURE: Sportsfocus
The celebrations were only beginning when Player of the Match Robbie Ryan and captain Tadhg Gould reflected on a memorable St Stephen’s Day for Holycross Ballycahill, as the Mid men claimed back-to-back County U21A hurling titles.
For Ryan, the novelty of these halcyon days for the club was to the fore as he looked ahead to the night ahead.
“Yeah, we’ll enjoy it tonight,” he said. “We missed Christmas for a good reason, obviously, but county finals don’t come around too often. You have to enjoy them when you get the chance.”
Captain Tadhg Gould echoed that sentiment as he accepted the cup.
“It’s unreal,” Gould said. “It’s some feeling, just unbelievable. To be captain of this group and to lift the cup again is very special.”
Gould also pointed to the broader picture, with underage success now translating to senior level within the club.
“There’s a lot of work going in underage over the last few years,” he said. “We’ve had success at 19s and 21s, and it’s starting to show at senior level. We got to a county semi-final this year and ten of these lads were on that starting team. We’ll be hoping to go one step further next year.”
Turning to the game itself, Ryan outlined the key spell that swung the final decisively in Holycross Ballycahill’s favour.
“We started well and then they came back into it,” he said. “Paddy had a chance to bring it back to a one-point game and after that we were ruthless. We got six points in a row, went in nine up at half-time and that gave us a great platform. The second half was comfortable enough in the end.”
Ryan was quick to acknowledge the quality of Borris-Ileigh, particularly their inter-county experience.
“We knew they had excellent players. Paddy and Tom are Tipp seniors for a reason,” he said. “To be fair, Ty did a great job on Paddy. Tom did his hurling as well, but at times it’s damage limitation. They are always going to get scores. We’re just delighted to come out on top.”
The scale of the achievement was further underlined by the fact that Holycross Ballycahill did it without county centre back Jim Ryan, while looking ahead, only Gould and Eoin Craddock are overage for next season.
With the bulk of this championship-winning panel still eligible, Holycross Ballycahill will go into 2026 as strong favourites to complete a three-in-a-row at U21A level, and more importantly than that, at senior level too.
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