'Going into Thurles and training with the likes of Noel McGrath and Ronan Maher is unreal'

A heady few days for Cashel King Cormacs prodigy Oisin O’Donoghue started in emphatic fashion with his calming and big play mentality steering his U20 teammates toward victory in the choppy waters of the Munster U20 final last Wednesday evening.

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Being added to a Tipperary senior hurling panel at the age of 18 speaks only of a talented player, and with every passing game, O’Donoghue grows in stature. In the aftermath of his second provincial success at this grade, the match winner in Limerick spoke about his delight with his lot currently.

“Yeah, look, it's an absolute privilege every time you get to put on the blue and gold, and I find myself in a fortunate position that I am getting to do it often, so I’m absolutely delighted with how things are going at the moment,” he said.

“The ball that was coming in was unreal, and I was just blessed that the ball was sticking tonight. Other nights, they don’t stick, and I’ve been on the other end of those games and, thank God, it worked out tonight.”

“You could understand why the ball wasn’t coming in because the pressure that Clare were putting on the lads outside was unreal, and trying to counteract that is something we found really difficult.”

The team struggled at times to get to their top gear but the black card dismissal of Jamie Moylan in the middle of the second half was a turning point and O’Donoghue revealed that is certainly gave him and his teammates more leverage over their opponents in the ten minutes where they held the numerical advantage.

“We kind of saw it open up when they went down to 14, and that’s kind of how we battled through it.

Going one better than last year will now be the focus for the players in the coming weeks, and O’Donoghue recognised that there will be plenty of experience used from their run to last year's final, one that still hurts for the players who were involved.

“Motivation is definitely there from last year’s All-Ireland.”

“But then, we bottled the Limerick game in the first game as well this year, which we carried with us all the way up to now, and our mission is to not feel that again; we promised ourselves that we wouldn’t let down the jersey like that again.”

It’s been a busy period for the players straddling senior and U20 duties, and the experience that the likes of O’Donoghue, Darragh McCarthy, and Sam O’Farrell are receiving to add to their clear talent is encouraging.

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O’Donoghue spoke with great enthusiasm about the influence that the senior players have had on his progression over the last nine months.

“It’s brought me on leaps and bounds,” he said, acknowledging the elder statesmen on Liam Cahill’s panel.

“Going into Thurles and training with the likes of Noel McGrath, Ronan Maher, John McGrath, Jake Morris, it's just unbelievable the things that they’re able to show you.

“It could be something so simple, but you wouldn’t even realise it until you actually go out and do it. It’s just an absolute privilege to be able to train with them night in and night out,” he added finally.