“I never thought in my wildest dreams I'd be lucky enough to stand up there and lift that cup”

JORDAN Quinn had the honour of lifting the Sean Robbins Cup after Kilkcormac/Killoughey's victory over Ballinamere in Sunday's county final but for him personally it was a bitter sweet moment in many ways.

Jordan missed the final through injury, but it has also been a difficult year for him personally as both his mother and grandmother passed away in the last year but he said hurling and his team mates gave him huge support.

“It's bittersweet, alright, with everything that's gone on during the year,”: he said. “I suppose the injury is a bit of a minor detail when you put things into perspective, but it's a credit to the boys. They never let it affect us at all, and they rallied behind me, and look, that's just what it's all about. That's what team mates are for,” he said.

Victory was hard earned but despite being favourites Jordan knew it was something that has to be worked for. “I suppose people kind of have an expectation nearly at the start of the year, or whatever, but these things aren't easy won. We know that first hand. We struggled for such a long time to eventually get over the line, so when you're lucky enough to get here, you have to take full advantage of it. Thankfully, we've done that today, and the feeling is indescribable. I never thought in my wildest dreams I'd be lucky enough to stand up there and lift that cup.”

Looking back on the game he said “as all county finals are, it's knife-edge for the first couple of minutes, and there's frees, and there's probably frees that should be given that aren't given, but we probably left a bit behind us as well in the first half. We probably would have liked to be more up, but look, it was a savage last five minutes, and it was vital to go in with that bit of a lead and that bit of a jump in our step as well, so we just kicked on in the second half, thank God.”

Four points late in the half had given Kilcormac/Killoughey a 0-10 to 0-6 half time advanage but they also hit 10 wides in that half so could have been further ahead.

“Yeah, definitely. Look, I don't know what the exact wide count was, but wides have been probably a good friend of ours for the year, but look, thankfully they were probably lower than what we have been kind of hitting all year today, just thank God, it's just a relief, really, more than anything. Relief.”

He acknowledged that Ballinamere pushed them all the way to the end and even had a chance to snatch a last minute equaliser. “It's a credit to them lads as well. They never bowed their heads at all. They just kept coming at us and coming at us, and then down the stretch there, it came down to two points. There was a goal there for both sides, and if Ballinamere had got a goal there, like we saw last year when we were up at half time and you come out and if you get a goal, if you concede a goal or two, it really goes into the melting pot and you don't know what's going to happen.”

Attention now turns to a Leinster Club campaign and a quarter final meeting with the Kildare champions. “I'd like to think we represent Offaly well when we do advance, and I think we've the Kildare champions, it probably will be Naas because they're kind of dominating there. We know they're a serious outfit. I don't think we've ever played them in a challenge match, but we know a lot about them, and when Shinrone won it here in '22, I think Naas beat them. So, we're not taking this for granted at all. We have a massive challenge ahead of us. It's huge.”

Asked if there was any chance he would be back for that game he smiled and said “there's probably doctors and specialists I've been talking to now that will probably shoot me now to see what I was at in the warm-up and things like that, but look, we kind of floated the idea that if I was lucky enough to get on, so be it, but it kind of didn't develop that way, and that's just the way it goes. Just the main thing is getting over the line and seeing the smiles on the boys' faces afterwards. That's what's most important.”

After a difficult year Sunday's was a good way to round things off. “Yeah, it is a nice way. Unfortunately, I lost my granny and my mother this year, two very important people to me. It's strange. You get these kind of signs the last couple of days, and this morning I just felt she was there with me the whole way, and thankfully she was there to give us any sort of help to get over the line, thank God,” Jordan added.