What it?s like to win a Munster Senior Cup

Aidan Moynihan

It’s hard to put your finger on what the exact feeling was when the final whistle blew in Thomond Park on the St Patrick’s bank holiday Monday. There are so many emotions floating around on an occasion like it. Relief, overwhelming happiness and a sense of just rewards are just some of the feelings that come over you.

The moment when the referee sounded the final whistle came and went in a matter of seconds. I wish I could make time stand still in that moment forever. The sense of relief was massive. It’s as if you have reached the stage where you were meant to be and you have been rewarded for all the hard work that you have put in all year. Standing in the middle of that wonderful arena with your best friends  you think back over all the training sessions you did in the muck and wet over winter and those times you dragged your self off the couch and did your gym sessions when you could have often taken the easy option.

People from outside the camp looking in only see what is on the pitch on cup final day but winning is a combinatinon of all the hard training and matches you take part in all year and the sacrifices that you make to allow yourself to do this.

All year long we played the best teams from around the country testing ourselves week in week out.

This tough fixture list included games against Leinster powerhouses Blackrock, Clongowes and Belvedere. We also took on Ulster teams Methody and Campbell winning both games. Methody went on to win the Ulster Senior Cup.

Although these games were very challenging and often didn’t go our way, without them we would not have been the team we were come cup time.

When you’re out on that pitch afterwards with everyone in the stands watching, it makes you very proud of what you have achieved. We received great support from both inside and outside the school all year and this always gives the team a massive boost.

Having the players to win a cup is one thing but you need a managment team capable of getting the best out of these players and in Mark Butler, Tom Mulcahy, Kevin Leamy and Frank Fitzgerald we certainly had this. All through the year they helped us improve both indivudally and collectively. They left nothing to chance in our preperations and we are very grateful for this.

In Sean McCarthy we also had a very inspirational captain who was always a very calming infulence on the pitch and always made good decisions under pressure.

Munster Senior Cups are not easily won so when you get your hands on a cup medal it becomes a day that you will never forget.

Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/NGJfW6mE6LU/post.aspx

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