BY JOHNNY CAROLAN

IT has been a championship season of contrasting fortunes for Bandon.

In premier intermediate football, they finished bottom of their group and had to contest the relegation playoff against Macroom, which they lost, but in the intermediate A hurling, a series of good displays have brought them to the semi-final stage.

Riverstick is the venue at 4pm Saturday for a clash with Sarsfields’ second team. With football done for the year, Peter Murphy and the Lilywhites are keen to extend the hurling sojourn.

‘We had two good league campaigns,’ he says, ‘got to two league finals, so we had kind of built a good foundation there.

‘We had Mikey Power with the S&C this year and he's been brilliant. Going into the championship, we got a great win against Russell Rovers – unfortunately in the football, a couple of results just didn't fall our way.

‘It’s great that you have the hurling to fall back on. It’s all about momentum too and bouncing back from certain results.’

The good showing in Division 4 of the league served to lay strong foundations, with Bandon beaten in the final by senior A side Inniscarra by just a point. In the championship, group wins over Russell Rovers and Mayfield sandwiched a loss to Midleton before beating Erin’s Own in the quarter-finals.

‘Sometimes, when our backs are to the wall, it's nice to come out swinging,’ says 32-year-old Murphy.

‘We knew we needed a result against a Mayfield team who were going to be fighting for their lives, so just to get a performance and to get a win that day was huge.

‘The same again the last day, we were probably coming off the back of a poor football performance from the week before, fellas were hurting a small bit and they used that frustration and that hurt against Erin’s Own to get another good performance.’

After two relegations in three seasons and failing to get out of their IAHC group last year, the graph is pointing upwards again.

‘There's been a huge shift in the attitude,’ Murphy says.

‘Even last year there, we got Joe Burke and the lads in and they're just great Bandon men, they want to see us doing well and everyone's put their shoulder to the wheel.

‘In fairness, this year, more than ever, the managements have worked together very well to make sure that fellas are on the field the whole time and that they're enjoying it.

‘Results in the football aside, it has been a very, very enjoyable year so far.’

Helping in that regard has been the impact of coach James Nyhan. The Bandon native moved to Cloyne in the early 2000s, helping them to three SHC finals, and has brought his experience to bear.

‘He's been a brilliant breath of fresh air,’ Murphy says.

‘Just his knowledge of hurling and just the way he carries himself, the trainings are very good, everything's sharp, everything's intense, and you can see fellas' hurling has improved.

‘We won nine out of nine in the league, and two out of three so far in the championship, so you can see what they're doing on the training field is paying off.’

Now, they will look to take it a step further and reach the final but Murphy knows a massive challenge awaits.

‘Absolutely, Sars are going to be a brilliant team,’ he says.

‘They got straight to a semi-final, they've got a huge pick of players and some very, very good players as well, so we know we'll have to be at our best again to get a result there. 

‘You can see now this year more than ever, those younger lads are really stepping up to the plate.

‘The likes of Dylan O'Donovan, Tim Twohig, Charlie Long, Olan McSweeney, all these fellas, they're really, really putting their shoulders to the wheel, and driving things on in training.

‘As a result, it's showing in the matches, which is great.’