GABRIEL Rangers came up short for the fifth time in three years in a championship semi-final but manager Kieran O’Brien is convinced his side is on the right track. It’s only a matter of time before they break through the glass ceiling, he says.
O’Brien was disappointed with another semi-final defeat but very proud of the display given by his team in their county confined junior B loss to a fancied Ballyclough team. The Gabriels manager, a native of East Cork, sees a bright future for hurling in the area.
‘We’ve been at it now for a couple of years. There is hurling in Gabriels and it just needs a bit of encouraging, a bit of self-belief,’ O’Brien said.
‘The best thing I saw last week was the Dublin v Limerick game – that gave me fierce belief that it can be done. It’s all about work rate, too. You can have the best hurlers in the world but if they can’t win the ball, you’re not going to win.
‘Our target at the start of the year was to get to the final. This is our fifth semi-final in three years between the confined county and West Cork, and we still haven’t got over the line. Every semi-final we lost, the other team went on to win it out – Randals, Bantry and Kilbrittain in West Cork and Freemount in the county.
‘It’s all about perseverance but it’s hard when there’s nothing coming through from underage. We are working on that now so, hopefully, that will improve matters.
‘I came in before Covid and we were getting hammerings by Skibb and others. I could see that it was a total lack of belief but that is changing now. You can see that the lads here are gutted at losing today, that’s a great sign for the future. Lads care and that’s a huge plus for us.’
Now that the county campaign is finished, Gabriels will turn their attention to the West Cork championship but O’Brien knows that the next competition could be even harder to win than the confined county.
‘We’ll target the West Cork championship now,’ he said.
‘We’re the best side in Carbery going on progress in this championship. I know Skibb are there, they’re always dangerous, and you can’t rule out Bantry, you never know what they will produce. Bandon are down and Argideen are there, all strong hurling clubs, so winning the West Cork will take a huge effort.
‘If you said at the start of the year that we’d be here today, almost winning, I’d be very happy, but it’s all about winning something now, to keep improving.’
