Sars' determination off the field inspired Munster glory says Jack O'Connor

Prior to Sunday, the above attitude was a neat and tidy encapsulation of the club’s response to the many unforeseen events that landed on and flowed past their doorstep over the past 18 months. 18 months of hardship and harrowing off-field losses.

A couple of days after ending their nine-year wait for county honours last October, and a couple of months after they had laid to rest favourite son Teddy McCarthy, the flood waters of Storm Babet swept in off the road and laid ruin to their Riverstown grounds. Another gut punch. And not a jot of warning to go with it.

The pitch and astro turf were submerged. The basement of the clubhouse, containing the cellar, cold room, office, and gym, were swallowed and swamped. The floodlights were condemned too.

The headache from totting up all repair costs became a migraine when it emerged how long the lock would have to remain fastened to their front gate.

Undeterred, the club carried on. Every alternative arrangement that needed to be made was done without a second thought. Their new reality was immediately adapted to.

The pitch reopened for use one week before this year’s county final. That same pitch will now be in use up until mid-December, at the very least, as the club’s flagship team bid for All-Ireland final involvement on the far side of Christmas.

Long before Johnny Crowley’s charges refused to accept the long odds handed to them for their meeting with four-in-a-row chasing Ballygunner, club officials back home in Riverstown had led the way in refusing the hand dealt to them.

On Sunday, the players simply followed in their footsteps and heeded their determination.

“It’s been an incredible two years since Johnny and the lads came in,” began corner-forward Jack O’Connor.

“There were people passing away, Teddy, Cathal Mac’s father, Conor, the clubhouse being flooded, we’ve gone through a lot in fairness.

“The committee in the club are amazing. They’re outstanding, seeing what they’ve done for the club in the last few weeks, few months, and even the last few years.

"It was nearly a thanks the way we performed for them, for our friends, our family, our clubmates, everyone.”

Sars' attitude must also be hailed as brave. Not initially, mind. When it became apparent early doors that they were lining up man-on-man against a side boasting an 11-point winning margin across their 11-game, five-year unbeaten run in Munster, that same attitude was being ridiculed as naive.

But aside from Patrick Fitzgerald, no other Ballygunner forward, not even Dessie Hutchinson, could spark consistent menace.

“We said beforehand we’re going to push up completely because we know the influence of Stephen O’Keeffe, he’s an outstanding goalie and he’s nearly like the playmaker, the quarterback.

"So we said we’d go man-on-man, every man is responsible for his own man, and throughout the pitch we got the best of each other that way.”

O’Connor was a slight outlier to that approach. Started corner-forward but quickly roamed. His dispossession of Mikey Mahony and block on Conor Sheahan, two turnovers that fed successive points on the quarter hour, both arrived in the Sars half of the field.

“If you apply enough pressure, a team is going to break down eventually when you have two Sars men for every one Ballygunner man. We made a promise to ourselves going forward into today that we are going to do that as best we can, and it paid off.

“It was tough losing a county final to Imokilly, but in a weird way, it is nearly a good thing because you are going into the Munster championship with nothing to lose. There is no pressure on you. Nobody expected anything of us today at all. We were rank outsiders.

“Our thing all week really was just that we are going to give it everything and our work rate was going to be our number one mantra. That's what we brought today, you could see there with the turnovers, the tackling, and the scores we got from turnovers.

"It changed everything and set the tone for us for the whole game. That's what got us over the line.”

Best day ever on a hurling field?

“It’s up there, definitely. It’d be tough to beat that anyway, I’d say.”

Sink Slaughtneil in two weeks time to secure a Croke Park final spot and O’Connor might be rethinking his words.