BEHIND every All-Ireland final man-of-the-match, there is a mother who cooks stews for the team and serves up five-star breakfasts after their greatest triumphs.

Take a bow, Celina Crowley, who runs Celina’s Cafe in Kilbrittain village.

‘Mom is such a huge part of the team and everything – feeding everyone,’ explains Ronan Crowley, man of the match in Kilbrittain’s historic All-Ireland club junior hurling final success.

His mom is one of the many unsung heroes behind the scenes of Kilbrittain GAA’s dream season.

‘There were a few Sunday training sessions where she made us a stew, and we’d eat it across the road in the pub, watching games back – like the All-Ireland semi-final against Davidstown. Mom was there serving it out and everyone has fierce respect for her, in fairness. Rightly so. She is an unbelievable woman.’

After the All-Ireland final triumph, as well as the county final win, the team had breakfast in Celina’s on the Monday morning. It was a chance to unwind, chat and process their incredible achievements in a season that saw Kilbrittain complete a county, Munster and All-Ireland treble.

The Crowleys are woven into the fabric of Kilbrittain. Ronan’s dad, Niall Crowley, was part of the team that won the county intermediate hurling title in 1995, while the family also run the local post office and shop. On and off the pitch, they help make Kilbrittain tick.

Ronan’s parents also played their part in ensuring Kilbrittain’s All-Ireland celebrations under the Cusack Stand – after the dramatic one-point win against Easkey – could be heard all the way back home in the village. For his 21st birthday on January 4th, just six days before the All-Ireland final, the Kilbrittain forward received a present that the entire team would come to enjoy.

‘It was kind of a big birthday,’ he quips, ‘and I got a new big JBL PartyBox. What a perfect week to get it before an All-Ireland final in Croke Park!

‘The one I had previously was after losing a bit of sound. This new one is unreal. Since the start of the year, I’ve sent a Spotify playlist to all the lads and they just put whatever songs they liked on it,’ adds Crowley, a hurler turned DJ.

‘We have post-game and pre-game playlists. You’d like to think there’ll be different songs there to get a fella hyped, and different songs to help get in the zone after the game as well.

‘We were lucky enough to have a lot of wins. We hadn’t lost a game in the hurling championship, so it was easy to get fellas in the mood after games with the songs.

‘You’d have other fellas connected to the PartyBox and let them off.’

Music is also one of the ways Kilbrittain continue to remember the late Oisín Gillain, who passed away from SADS (Sudden Adult Death Syndrome) in March last year. His No. 8 jersey has been retired and is brought into every dressing-room before games. Oisín is never far from their thoughts.

‘After his funeral, there were two songs played just as Oisín was being buried – Your Love and The Way I Am by The Tumbling Paddies. They’re played after every game and before every game. It’s another way to remember him,’ Ronan says.

‘It’s obviously so sad, but I’d like to think as a team we’ve made that a little bit easier on the Gillain family, and the Enright family as well (Anne Enright passed away in September 2024). They’re hugely strong families.

‘You would be thinking about that all the time as a team. We are such a close and tight-knit group too.’

• Watch the full interview with Ronan Crowley on the Star Sport Podcast.