It was a moment for all of West Cork when Carbery defeated Muskerry in the McCarthy Insurance Group Premier SFC Divisions/Colleges seeded section final at Páirc Uí Rinn and claimed the Derry Gowen Cup. The divisional side was made up of clubs stretched across the region, and it was O’Donovan Rossa’s Gene O’Donovan who put all the pieces together and got the win on a sun soaked evening. Carbery had to do it the hard way, as their semi-final appearance involved a thrilling victory over Duhallow on a night decided by St. Mary’s Olan Corcoran fisting over the bar in the dying seconds. Muskerry proved to be a more straight forward affair, as O’Donovan’s players’ outscored their near rivals 2-23 to 2-15 with nine different purple and yellow jerseys finding the target. Their reward is a place in the preliminary quarter finals of the Cork Premier Senior Football Championship in August, with University College Cork lined up for the West Cork divisional side. O’Donovan isn’t thinking that far ahead. He is simply celebrating what has already been achieved by Carbery in 2026, the coach tells Dylan O’Connell.
“I’m feeling good…. I’m feeling very good,” Gene O’Donovan says.
“Look, the boys, the boys, we didn’t challenge them. They challenged themselves. I say very little in the dressing room. I just thank them for coming and things like that.
“You know, Haulie O’Sullivan does a lot of the work. Haulie does a lot of the work there with the coaching side of things.
“Normally I just coach, but this is a manager’s job I took on this year when I was asked. I was with Carbery just pre-COVID. There’s just too much history in Carbery not to want to be in this job.
“I had been in with Tim Buckley a few years ago and Tim kind of persuaded me. I’m involved with a lot of teams as well but I love this bunch.”
Carbery is a special operation, as the divisional team pulls in players from across the West Cork and the goal is to build a winning team in a very short window. The complete unit only plays a handful of games a year, with the goal to qualify for the knockout stages of the Cork Premier Senior Football Championship where there is a chance to win the Andy Scannell Cup.
The stakes of their operation get bigger and bigger with every game, and there’s absolutely no room for error.
Divisional sides’ recent record in football is a testament to that as Duhallow from North Cork in 2019 are the last team of its kind to reach the final, and Carbery were the last to claim the county champions title after a victory over Bishopstown in 2004.
O’Donovan knows full well what goes into running and managing a divisional team, the hardest part of the job is the balancing act as they try to fit in training and matches around club activity.
Fortunately for Carbery, they have a coach in charge that knows exactly what to do those situations.
“It just comes together,” O’Donovan explained.
“Believe it or not, there are no phone calls. There is none, and people won’t believe that.
“The first thing we said when we spoke to the clubs was that we’re not bringing the lads in to flah them out, for the simple reason that they’re doing enough strength and conditioning and fitness in their own clubs.
“And you can see they are a fit group, you know, and we put that challenge to the clubs to keep them fit so that they’d be playing at the higher level as, you know, a lot of these players are coming from Junior A and Intermediate, like, so this is senior A level as far as I’m concerned. The next one would be, you’re going up to senior premier if you beat UCC.
“So yeah, there is not a lot of organising. WhatsApp, text them. Are you available? If they say yes, you bring them out. Give us 25 players and we’ll put a team together.”
The star attraction in their run to lift the Derry Gowen Cup was Bantry Blues and Cork star Ruairi Deane, who featured in the Duhallow game just days after losing to Mayo in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship quarter finals at Croke Park.
The 35-year-old appeared and almost ran the show at Páirc Uí Rinn against Duhallow, he even got a much needed goal for Carbery to give the divisional side a 3-16 to 0-16 advantage in the 54th minute.
The 10-year veteran of intercounty football repeated this against Muskerry, on a night where his team stormed in front and comfortable held their northern rivals at arm’s length.
To O’Donovan, Deane is a model professional that has plenty left to offer for his club, division, and county.
“That only took one message,” he explained and smiled.
“That only took one message to Ruairi from one of our selectors, John Dineen, and Ruairi did not turn us down. John was a bit confused about it and he asked him, was he coming with his gear? And he said ‘yes, I am playing.’
“It only took one message, to see was Ruairi okay for the Muskerry game. ‘Yeah, I’ll be there’ That’s it, and that’s the man he is. He’s in great shape. Do you know what I mean? After a long season with Cork, I think there’s another couple of days left in Ruairi Deane.”
O’Donovan, Deane, and Carbery are now preparing to play UCC in the preliminary quarter finals of the Cork Premier Senior Football Championship.
That’s their next objective as a group, and it is well known around the panel and West Cork clubs.
Anything can happen now, with the championship in full swing and games coming thick and fast as summer turns to autumn.
Whatever comes their way, Carbery are winners with a trophy to show for it and that’s the most important thing.