![\"DJ](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/4805283_2_articleinlinemobile_HC_20SAHC_20Na_20Piarsaigh_20Blarney_202.jpg\" "\\"DJ")
DJ Coffey of Na Piarsaigh turns away from Blarney’s Sean Crowley during the recent SAHC quarter-final at P\u00e1irc U\u00ed Rinn. Picture: Howard Crowdy<\/p>\nChristy Connery has witnessed the highs and lows of hurling over his illustrious career with Na Piarsaigh.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After serving his third year as selector with his beloved club, he had time to reflect on the journey.<\/p>\n
Na Piarsaigh were relegated from the Premier Senior Hurling Championship in 2022 and had a tough season in the Senior A grade, eliminated by Blarney in the quarter-final.<\/p>\n
Looking back on the season, Connery felt it was a mixed bag where a narrow loss in the opener to Killeagh came back to haunt them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe lost to Killeagh but it was probably our best performance of the year as both sides played well in an excellent game of hurling and we couldn\u2019t have asked for any more from our lads on the night.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had enough chances to win it but Killeagh were very efficient in their shooting and as a management team we took a lot of positives from the game.”<\/p>\n
The second game against Carraigtwohill was a completely different story for the Farranree club as they went down to another defeat.<\/p>\n
\u201cCarrigtwohill are a very good side with some very talented players but it was a game we never rose to the same heights that we did against Killeagh as we were simply very flat on the day.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The final game against Fermoy was crucial and Na Piarsaigh found a way to win with their scoring average guiding them to the knockout stages.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a game that the lads knew that we had an outside chance of getting out of the group and they played solid enough that ensured we qualified and it was game on for a quarter final against Blarney.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cLook Blarney are a good side but we missed a penalty before half time. We fell short as the better team won on the day.\u201d<\/p>\n
DJ Coffey of Na Piarsaigh turns away from Blarney’s Sean Crowley during the recent SAHC quarter-final at P\u00e1irc U\u00ed Rinn. Picture: Howard Crowdy<\/p>\n
It’s now down to the last four, Carrigtwohill v Bride Rovers and Blarney-Castlelyons. Carrig were very impressive when they took on Na Piarsaigh.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would have to say Carrigtwohill as their forwards are good forwards as you cannot give them an inch of space but the only thing that would worry me is their back line doesn\u2019t look as strong.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the flip side, they move the ball well and get into scoring positions and overall, they have a good pattern of play that suits their style.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
The injury curse was on Na Piarsaigh again this season with Connery witnessing his son Daire doing his cruciate at P\u00e1irc U\u00ed Rinn.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook, call it a coincidence or not, but there have been a few players hurt on this pitch this season. It was like playing on a car park.”<\/p>\n
Losing players to emigration over the last couple of seasons certainly hurt Na Piarsaigh.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe lost the Gunning brothers, Eddie and Dan, who were a huge loss to us. Evan Sheehan came back late in the season but he found it hard to get up to speed on the fitness end.<\/p>\n
\n On top of that we lost three other squad players with injuries in the group games but on the positive side we introduced a number of players that did well enough.\u201d\u00a0\n <\/p>\n
The management team, which includes Se\u00e1n \u00d3g \u00d3 hAilpin, James O’Connor and Mark Mullins, have been at the helm for three years. Will they go on for a fourth?<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you do three years, it\u2019s a good term but the lads haven\u2019t spoken about it yet and of course the club committee’s views will be important going forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no use staying on and getting the same results but look we will see are there any ideas to take it forward.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The outstanding work that the executive committee do at Na Piarsaigh came in for special mention.<\/p>\n
\u201cColin O\u2019Sullivan is rock solid and a genuine chairman and there are many more other great volunteers but to get back where we want to be will take hard work as we have no divine right to be playing in the Premier Senior grade.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
As for the semi-finals?<\/p>\n
\n I have a fancy for Carrigtwohill in the Senior A championship as they play some beautiful hurling.\u00a0\n <\/p>\n
“The Premier Senior is a very hard one to call but I think if the Barrs play to form they have the weapons.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Christy Connery has witnessed the highs and lows of hurling over his illustrious career with Na Piarsaigh.\u00a0 After…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100335,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[24,18,129,19,17,132],"class_list":{"0":"post-100334","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-cork-gaa","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-hurling","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100334\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}