Sars' Cian Darcy: We’ll give it one hell of a go against Ballygunner in Munster club SHC final

And while the result also ended Cork’s eight-year losing run in the provincial championship in the process, for Darcy and his team-mates, it was all about bouncing back from their county final defeat to Imokilly.

“You could see after the game what it means to fellas,” continued the half-forward.

“Four weeks ago, we had that tough defeat to Imokilly and like Johnny [Crowley] said, that Saturday session six days after the county final was probably the worst session of all time.

“We were running around in the warm-up that day and I whispered to one of the lads, ‘I want the ground to swallow me up here, I just don’t want to be here.’

“I suppose it’s only natural and it was always going to be the worst session but we flushed that out of us that Saturday. Then on the Tuesday we met and we said that either we were going to do this right or we weren’t going to do it at all.

“This team has been questioned – not even in the last two years but over the last ten years – and we spoke in the dressing room and said that we were going to give it our all.

“As Dan Hogan said in his interview, we’re representing Sars and it’s going to be our first Munster final and we can’t wait.”

And so switching the focus on to  the final, the first Munster Club SHC final in their illustrious history, where standing between Sarsfields and the provincial crown will be none other than Ballygunner, who will be going for their fourth title in a row.

The showpiece occasion will also be a rematch of last year’s Munster quarter-final, when Sars were blown away – 2-20 to 0-9 - by the Waterford juggernaut. It’s something Darcy wants to put right, although he knows they face a formidable challenge.

“Going back to that Ballygunner game, it was probably a dark day in the club’s history,” he added.

“Coming back on the bus that day, it was by no means good enough. I know how good a team Ballygunner are but, that day, we just didn’t represent ourselves as best we could.

“It was very disappointing on the day, and it was a long winter to look at yourself and say, ‘If we do get the chance to get back in Munster, we’re going to give it a go.’

“We’re under no illusions how good Ballygunner are, they’re an absolute machine. I wouldn’t say that there’s no pressure (on us), because it’s a Munster final.

“The club has never been in one and a club as good as Sars should be competing at the Munster platform. We’ll put a lot of pressure on ourselves and we know the ability that’s within the group.

“We’ll give it one hell of a go in two weeks’ time.”