Clough-Ballacolla claimed the Bob O’Keeffe Cup once again on Sunday as they defeated Rathdowney-Errill in the final.
It was a first for Willie Hyland as manager after winning six on the field as a player.
Speaking afterwards, Hyland said that the decision to take on the manager’s job in the club was made easy because of the people that are around him.
He said: “I’ve a good team around me. Mick McEvoy and Shane Maher are unbelievable with me, we don’t have a backroom team but we have loads of volunteers with us helping out.
“I wasn’t getting paid obviously, nor were other volunteers that we had.
“We had Jimmy on the gear, Joe and Ben, the mothers making breakfast every Sunday morning.
“We trained last Sunday evening and the spread that was left out for us was just amazing there were curries, soups, stew.
“Everybody was just putting their shoulder to the wheel. It is a community effort, no heroes, no ego’s just everybody helping the cause.
“And were all working together and you felt guilty at times asking them to do certain things during the year but it’s great when you win to be able to justify the effort.”
That said, Hyland said he found it easier to just hurl in a county final than manage in one.
He said: “I found it far easier to hurl if i’m being straight.
“The last few nights have been sleepless nights we’ve had to make big decisions on players and you’re human at the end of the day so you’re questioning yourself.
“You’re talking to the lads a good bit but a lot goes into it but as i said, Mick and Shane were incredible with me.
“The work we put in together and we were all driving for the one cause and look it has paid off now.”
You can listen to the full interview below:
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