Let the bonfires light the winter sky. Let the band strike up. Kilshannig’s heroes are coming home as champions.
Kilshannig are Cork County Junior A hurling champions for the first time in the club’s history after a magnificent, statement victory over Ballinora at Páirc Uí Chaoimh. The 1-19 to 0-11 scoreline told its own story, but it only hinted at the scale of what this meant to a club that has waited and worked relentlessly for this moment.
From the opening exchanges, Kilshannig looked ready for the occasion. Jack and Kieran Twomey set the early tone, driving the tempo and snapping into contact, while Paddy Walsh and Diarmuid O’Sullivan kept the scoreboard ticking. Despite Ballinora’s efforts to stay in touch through Ben Mayer frees, Kilshannig took a deserved four-point lead into the break.
If the first half was about patience, the second was about authority. Nine minutes after the restart, Éanna O’Hanlon produced the moment that will be replayed in Kilshannig for generations, bursting through the heart of the Ballinora defence to bury the game’s only goal. It was the release of years of near-misses and narrow defeats.
From there, Kilshannig tightened their grip. The half-back line stood firm, bodies were flung in front of Ballinora shots, and every clearance was met with a roar. Kevin Smith’s late points from range stretched the gap into double figures, sealing a result that was never in doubt by the final whistle.
The pain of 2023, when Kilshannig fell to Erin’s Own in the county final, never truly faded. It hardened resolve. It shaped this group and today they claimed victory.
