RONAN Crowley jokes that before every game, Tomás Harrington tells him this will be his day.

‘Half of them aren’t my day!’ Crowley quips. But last Saturday certainly was. The fearless Kilbrittain forward left Croke Park not only as an All-Ireland winner but as the man of the match. It doesn’t get much better: becoming a hero for your club on their greatest day.

‘You’d be dreaming when you’re a young fella to do something like that, and to do it with your club is something different,’ Crowley says, impressively composed for a 21-year-old who just scored four points from play in an All-Ireland triumph.

It was a performance destined to become the stuff of local legend, and manager Joe Ryan understands why.

‘Just to have the mettle and the resilience to pull it off – he had two off his left and two off his right,’ Ryan noted. ‘

In the Davidstown game (All-Ireland semi-final), it wasn't going for him, but he worked so hard. He actually had the most touches in that game, even if it didn't end in scores. Tonight, it did. I don't know if, at 21, I’d have had the mental capacity for the resilience he showed.’

Man of the match Ronan Crowley.

Crowley took the occasion in his stride, standing tall on the grandest stage under the bright lights of GAA HQ. Try as Easkey did to rein him in, they simply couldn’t.

Ironically, the song Crowley expected to hear in the Kilbrittain dressing room – Rein Me In by Sam Fender featuring Olivia Dean– wasn't booming out as he chatted with the media.

It was the wrong playlist, the hurler-turned-DJ laughed. A man of many talents, Crowley is not only a key cog in the Kilbrittain attack but also a curator of the team’s soundtrack, making good use of the speaker his mother bought him for his recent 21st birthday.

He carries the confidence of youth, but he credits the blend of ages as the secret to Kilbrittain’s success. This team has been forged by shared experiences, both tragic and celebratory, throughout the campaign.

‘Philip (Wall) was saying before the game, it's like having 30 brothers on the team,’ Crowley says.

We're all so close, especially this year. Having a younger captain like Philip brings everyone together. You look up to the likes of Dec, Tom Harrington, and Nick (O’Donovan); seeing them on the bench, ready to come on, gives you a massive lift.’

The impact of that bench was telling. Experienced heads like Harrington and youthful energy like Conor Ustianowski made their mark, but equally important was the team's ability to reset at the interval. Kilbrittain trailed by one and had yet to find their rhythm, but they didn’t panic.

‘It felt like we did none of the hurling in the first half and we were still only a point down. That’s a good sign,’ Crowley explains.

‘Joe pepped us up at half-time. He said, “We’re not hurling near what we can do,” so we took that on board. We were better in the second half, though definitely not at our best. We just dogged it out.’

With three points in that second half to bring his tally to four, Crowley finally had his day. And so did Kilbrittain.