Homeless Sarsfields finding refuge on unlikely journey

Jack O'Connor says Sarsfields’ shock Munster success in dethroning three-in-a-row champions Ballygunner was a thank you to everyone who helped the club through some difficult years.

In October 2023, the club’s home pitch and clubhouse were destroyed by flooding during Storm Babet.

For the past year, their hurlers have travelled all over Cork, borrowing pitches from other clubs for training sessions.

They went 12 months without training on home turf until their Riverstown ground reopened in recent weeks.

The club has also suffered the loss of club stalwarts as well as legendary dual star Teddy McCarthy.

"It’s been an incredible two years since the lads came in," says O’Connor.

"There was people passing away, Teddy, Cathal McCarthy’s father, the clubhouse being flooded last year, we’ve gone through a lot in fairness.

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

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

Sars lost their Cork title to divisional side Imokilly in October and some hard decisions were made before the Munster campaign.

They abandoned their sweeper system and made big changes down the spine of their team. Just as important as the change in strategy was the switch in mentality.

"The main thing is management said we’re going to go brave on it. We’re going to go man-on-man, 15-on-15 here," says O’Connor.

"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 in the backs.

"So we said every man is responsible for his own man and throughout