BY RYAN FERRY
SETANTA captain Steven McBride enjoyed a ‘good physical battle’ with Sean MacCumhaills on Saturday evening.
McBride and his teammates are further down the road than their neighbours and their size and experience counted.
Setanta were able to pull clear in the second half and McBride was pleased with their application.
“MacCumhaills are a young team and you can see that they are getting better and better each week.
“We chipped a few points there and kind of got the run on them a wee bit.
“But it was still a tight battle. They have some good young players there and they’re definitely a team to watch for the future.
“We got the rub of the green and were able to chip over a few scores when it mattered the most. A good physical battle.”
Setanta bossed the first half but MacCumhaills were somehow only seven points down at the break.
If they had got a goal early in the second half, it could have been game on.
Setanta were wary of that and went about their business in a controlled manner.
“We knew they were going to bring the fire.
“We knew it was going to come, up here in MacCumhaill Park.
“Thankfully we didn’t allow that to faze us. We put the shoulder to the wheel in that second half and played our hurling and it was a good result for us.”
It’s a busy period for county hurler McBride as he is also playing football for Red Hughs in the Intermediate Championship.
They have a big game on Saturday against Burt and are eyeing up a spot in the knock-out stages.
It can be tough on the body to play dual, but McBride is one of the fittest players on the Setanta team.
“I’ve two left feet on me so maybe I should stick to the hurling!
“No, I’m enjoying the football and I always have.
“It’s hard to juggle both and I would always lead a wee bit more towards the football.
“I do enjoy the football as well so it’s just about minding the body really.”
It will be a busy few weeks for Setanta as they gear up for another tilt at winning the county title.
Setanta have landed the Munster Cup six times since 2017 but their have been some final defeats in the mix as well that have been hard to stomach.
McBride said: “You have to play what’s in front of you and that’s just the way it is.
“We will take these three weeks now and keep training hard and get ready to go again.
“It’s a privilege to get into a final never mind win it and we will be ready for it.
“You have to make the most of every opportunity because it can move on real quick.
“We want to push on now in the next couple of weeks.”