CHRISTMAS is usually a time to take a break and enjoy the holiday season.

For the Kilbrittain hurlers, their festive experience is quite different – but in a good way, of course.

The club is preparing for their first AIB All-Ireland Junior Hurling Championship semi-final as they face Wexford side Davidstown-Courtnacuddy this Saturday (1pm) in Clonmel Sportsfield.

After county success and a Munster triumph that saw them overcome Limerick’s Knockaderry and Waterford club Kilrossanty, Kilbrittain are in unfamiliar waters right now.

Nevertheless, manager Joe Ryan is doing the same thing the Black and Amber have done all season: staying focused.

‘It’s such new territory. People go on about dreaming about these things. Realistically, you probably don’t. You dream about counties,’ Ryan told The Southern Star.

‘They won the county now. We dream about Croke Park for sure, but it’s been an incredible run so far and we want to keep it going. I’d love to be meeting with the players to be training over Christmas – I’d love that. That’s our aim.’

The players and management are living in the moment.

While most places put on the brakes for the festive season, Kilbrittain is still full of flags around the village and anticipation remains high.

‘There’s a great buzz around the village. With the novelty of things going into Christmas and things building, we are organising a training session around a national school Christmas concert. It’s fairly unique,’ Ryan explained.

‘You’d call in somewhere in the village or down in the school and people are talking about it. We took the Munster cup to the school recently and there was a great buzz. You have to live in the present with these sorts of things and enjoy it as it happens. It may not happen again.’

Back to matters on the pitch, Kilbrittain are where they deserve to be. In the championship to date, they have won all seven of their games. Their journey has taken them from a West Cork derby against Barryroe in August to being one win away from Croke Park at the start of the new year.

‘Momentum is such a hard thing to get. We’re on a good roll at the moment, but we’re under no doubts that you don’t get to an All-Ireland semi-final without being a good team. Davidstown, having looked at them, are a great team. They’re solid and they won the junior A football championship in Wexford as well.

‘The conditions have changed slightly in the last few days. It’s a bit more wintery and stormy. We’ll have to adapt.’

The Kilbrittain boss added that whatever the weather brings, his side will be ready.

‘Whatever is there, we just have to get on with it. It’s the same for both teams. It’s an opportunity to put your best foot forward and try and play your best, whatever the conditions.

‘We’ve seen in the championship that players might have quieter games than usual and other players step up. Even the last day, we had a couple of forwards who hadn’t scored but they contributed massively through work-rate and the energy they brought. It will be the same again this Saturday. Some players will step up, but it’s about the whole group working hard.’

Davidstown will be a difficult proposition, having won the Wexford third tier this year at intermediate A level. They also beat Kilkenny side Barrow Rangers on route to the semi-final – Kilkenny being a county that traditionally fields strong club teams at this grade.

Davidstown rocketed home three goals against Kildare side Clane in the Leinster final, underlining their threat, and Ryan is well aware of the dangers they possess. Kilbrittain didn’t concede a goal against a strong Kilrossanty forward line and can take confidence from that earlier performance.

‘In the Clane game, there was a lot of rain, very stormy. For them to score three goals was quite impressive. They are a solid outfit. They have the three Doyle brothers, Brian Smith looks like a very good player and obviously the former Wexford hurler David Dunne is a class act.

‘We faced a similar goal threat with Kilrossanty, with Paudie Fitzgerald and Alan Dunwoody, and I thought our backs did very well. We’ll put our best foot forward and have a crack off them,’ the Kilbrittain manager said, as his side stand on the cusp of GAA HQ.