The Newtown gospel is simple: possession, intelligent discipline, making positive use of the ball, not giving away stupid frees. And much of this comes from the thinking of one man, Bernie O’Connor. It’s forty five years since Newtownshandrum played Glen Rovers in the semi final of the Cork county SHC in Buttevant. Now Newtown are back in the semi final and the parish is again in the grip of a hurling frenzy as the local team prepare for what is going to be one of the biggest days in the club’s history.

On Sunday they meet Muskerry in the TSB SHC semi final in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, and having beaten the Mid Cork divisional side in the championship in the last two years, there is local confidence that they can reach their first senior final ahead of schedule. Newtown are there before their time. They are easily the youngest side left in the Championship, but such has been the fairytale rise to prominence thus far with their talented tyros, that only a fool would dismiss their claims.

O’Connor who is a native of Meelin, married and set up home in Newtown, throwing his lot in with the club and concentrated his time and effort on the under age section. Success was slow in coming and there were many heartbreaking defeats before it finally came right two years ago when Newtown won the county under 21 title. Last year they retained their crown and with 12 of the team available for this season, they are a good bet for a hat-trick of wins.

Those two under 21 victories have propelled Newtownshandrum to the forefront of club hurling in Cork. The stranglehold that clubs like the ’Barrs, Blackrock and Glen Rovers had on the senior hurling championship has been long broken since the rise of divisional teams like Carbery, Avondhu and Imokilly, and many would now see Newtown as the next rural force. Winning the under 21 championship in successive years has done wonders for the confidence of the players. They now know they can go in and compete with the best there is in the county. Apart from the under 21 successes, Newtown have three players currently on the county senior team, Bernie’s twin sons Gerry and Ben, and Pat Mulcahy, and that too has been of huge benefit to the club side.

Our rise to prominence may surprise many, but it’s due in no small way to the commitment of both players and club officials, said Bernie. We don’t have a huge population. There are only 300 houses in the area. In fact if you stand in the middle of our pitch and look a mile in any direction, you are in the next parish, but what we lack in numbers we make up for with total dedication.

Every youngster going to school seems to play hurling. There is no football played by the club now despite the fact that we won an North Cork A grade MFC title a couple of years ago. You wouldn’t get 20 people at a football match. Anyone wanting to play the game must travel out to a neighbouring club. John Paul King is the only member of the senior team that plays football, he has to travel to Buttevant.

Last year Newtown won two rounds of the senior championship before going out to Imokilly, but in those games they produced excellent performances which suggested that with a bit of luck, they could be a force to be reckoned with. That bit of luck came their way when the draws for this year’s championship were made last December. No disrespect to the teams we met, but we got the handy side of the draw this year, and I kept saying to the lads in training that if we could hold our nerve we could slip into the semi final without much notice. It has worked out for us so far, and while Muskerry won’t be easy, the fact that we have beaten them in the championship in the last two years, will give us the necessary confidence.

I’ve always said that we may not be the best team in the county, but our chance might come provided we are ready to take it and we are ready. Newtown have done all that was asked of them so far. Ballincollig and UCC were well beaten in the earlier rounds, before the clash with Avondhu proved to be their severest test to date. Conditions were dreadful and while it didn’t suit our front runners, our defence came up trumps. I’m hoping for a dry day on Sunday. It would suit our forwards better, as will the wide open spaces of Páirc Uí Chaoimh. We never get a better chance of reaching the final, but we cannot afford to look beyond Sunday. Muskerry have improved out of all proportion this year, and we’ll have to play to the peak of our powers to beat them.