WHEN Bandon hurling manager Joe Burke needed a coach at the beginning of this season, he had just the man in mind.

Former Lilywhites full-back Burke took over at the beginning of 2024 with Pat Barry as coach but when Barry opted to return to the playing ranks for the current campaign – the one-time Sarsfields attacker is now playing in goal – Burke made a call to James Nyhan.

Nyhan was a part of the Bandon side that won the JAHC in 1999 before work and life took him to east Cork and a transfer to Cloyne, whom he represented in two SHC finals. His recruitment has been fruitful, with a good Division 4 league campaign earning a place in the final of that competition, losing narrowly to senior A side Inniscarra, and they carried that form into the intermediate A championship.

Qualifying from a group featuring Midleton, Russell Rovers and Mayfield, Bandon have subsequently seen off Erin’s Own and Sarsfields to reach Saturday’s final against Aghabullogue at Páirc Uí Chaoimh (5.30pm) and Burke feels Nyhan’s impact has been huge.

Bandon coach James Nyhan.

‘I suppose James transferred to Cloyne 20 years or so ago,’ he says, ‘but any time we were playing after that, James was always the first one in contact with us to wish the best of luck.

‘I've been friends with James since I was seven years old. I was manager last year and this year we came into it and we needed a new coach because Pat Barry, who was the coach last year, was going playing.

‘James was the first man that came to my mind and it was quite an easy conversation – he wanted to give something back, he wanted to get involved.

‘He was delighted with the people that were involved – Donnacha Burke, Seán O'Reilly and Chris Bonner are the selectors – we worked in conjunction with the junior set-up so that everyone was singing off the same hymnsheet and he was delighted with that set-up.

‘It was a very quick answer from James and, look, thankfully he's here and the players are reacting really well to him because they know he’s a Bandon man and it really means a lot to him.’

Having been unlucky not to secure a place in the premier senior hurling grade when the Cork county championships were restructured for 2020, the speed of Bandon’s slide could scarcely have been predicted.

In that first year at senior A, they were quarter-finalists and ran Kanturk close but from there results declined, with many of the group who had taken the club to senior coming to the end of their careers. The Lilywhites were relegated at the end of 2021 and then suffered a similar fate after just two years at premier intermediate level.

While they failed to qualify from their group at intermediate A level, the campaign did end with a group-stage victory over an Erin’s Own side that would go on to reach the final – in hindsight, symbolic of the turning around of fortunes.

‘Winning becomes a habit and unfortunately losing becomes a habit as well,’ Burke says.

‘There is fear going into games, especially with the round-robin – if you lose your first game, the pressure is on with the second one. If you lose the second one, you're staring down the barrel of relegation.

‘It’s so important to win the first game and we really focused on that this year: the first game against Russell Rovers. We used the league as a kind of a foundation to get games into guys. Thankfully, we had a good league campaign and we had a good look at fellas.

‘I wouldn't say the pressure was off after beating Russell Rovers, but it's certainly easier when you win your first game.’

Bandon manager Joe Burke.

Though that was followed with defeat by Midleton, they beat Mayfield to secure qualification before earning the club’s first knockout hurling wins since 2017 at senior level.

Now, the task turns to trying to build on what has been achieved, though Burke knows they will be underdogs against a strong Aghabullogue side.

‘Look, there is excitement around the place, of course, because we haven't been in a final in nine years,’ he says.

‘There is fierce excitement amongst the kids and stuff and that's fantastic, they're all part of it as well, but it really is just another game.

‘We're under no illusions going into this game, this is going to be very difficult. Aghabullogue were so unlucky last year to be relegated after a replay against Kilworth, they won this grade two years ago and they’re trying to bounce back up again.

‘They’ve been scoring well and scored very well in the semi-final. We know we’re up against it and we’ve a very difficult challenge coming, but the first thing is to compete, to get stuck in from the start and the scoreline will sort itself out after that.’