After success in the All-Ireland Junior Hurling Championship and a successful return to the intermediate ranks, everyone connected with Kilbrittain is spending the winter celebrating. Manager Joe Ryan looks back on the last year with Dylan O’Connell.
It has been a historic year for Kilbrittain, following on from county and Munster honours at the tail end of the 2025 season. Their big day out in Croke Park was in January and it saw Easkey of Sligo beaten by the bare minimum, a moment that was celebrated by many across West Cork.
Failure to qualify for the knockout stages of the Cork Intermediate A Hurling Championship was met with feelings of disappointment by many, but the good far outweighs the bad when it comes to what Kilbrittain has achieved over the last 12 months.
“I suppose that in the last few weeks since we’ve been knocked out of the Intermediate Championship I’ve had time to go over clippings and interviews and the various podcasts I was on,” says Joe.
“It’s been lovely. It’s been great. You know, to go through it with the family and it’s incredible. There are things that you have forgotten or things you wouldn’t have necessarily thought of at the time.
“My eldest is seven and it’s really fresh in her memory. She really bought into it and she loved everything about it.”
The victory last January resonated with thousands across West Cork, and was seen as a victory for the small ball in a land traditionally associated with the big one. Ryan is more than aware of this and what their success has meant to people in villages running from Kilbrittain to Castletownbere.
“The number of clubs that play football in West Cork far outnumber the amount of clubs that play hurling,” he says.
“There’s a big effort being made to promote it a bit more and it is difficult. Traditionally you would have a pocket of clubs with Kilbrittain, Timoleague, Barryroe, Ballinascarty, Newcestown, and Bandon. They have dual status and hurling might not be the priority in some of them.
“It’s hard for Carbery representatives to play and survive at a higher level and when it does happen it is quite unique. It’s something that should be highlighted and it is great.”
Kilbrittain’s story is still their own, and the next chapter involved playing in the Cork Intermediate A Hurling Championship.
The club entered the fourth tier of the pyramid and started life with a victory over Russell Rovers and a draw with local rivals Bandon. A defeat to Aghada stopped them from progressing to the quarter finals in their final outing, a result that brought an end to Kilbrittain’s extraordinary run.
Ryan was disappointed on the day, but he is happy with overall with how the step up with Intermediate A went.
“I think we’re just disappointed that’s it’s just finished really,” he says.
“I don’t think we can have any complaints about the Aghada game really. They beat us fair and square. They are a great team. Two of the teams that were in our group were in the county final. I don’t think we can make much solace from that but it shows the competition we are in.
“I think the disappointment comes from our performance against Russell Rovers in the first round, which was brilliant. That first half of hurling was probably as good as we played in the last two years. So then you do that, and you get a bit of hope for the year, and you go, jeepers, what might happen?
“I suppose we went on to the Bandon game then, which was a real local derby, and it was a real tense, tight affair, and it was a draw. You’re going into the Aghada game with a bit of hope and look it wasn’t to be.
“I think, look, overall, I’m very pleased with the year that we had. Albeit at different stages, you’re kind of hoping for more.”
The most important thing for Kilbrittain is safety and the club comfortably held their own at the Intermediate A grade, instead of going straight back down to the junior ranks after the highs of last January in Croke Park.
“There’s a very good team there with a lot of potential,” explains Ryan.
“The age profile is really good; as far as I know the older statesmen are staying on, which is good. Ultimately, we can manage and facilitate an environment but the players need to drive it. I would hope that the last 12 months has given them confidence about what they can achieve when they commit to it and put the training in.
“They will be confident they can play to a certain way and play to a certain level.”
One issue Kilbrittain are dealing with as they navigate their return to Intermediate status is managing the next generation. That’s a problem every club has, as it involves hundreds of hours on the pitch with local schoolchildren getting to grips with how hurling works.
Ryan places his team’s success in the context of nurturing those players, after they saw local heroes deliver on the biggest stage of all.
“I think of the primary school that’s there and their memories of us winning,” adds Ryan.
“For some people, their first memory of a local game was the Munster or All Ireland series or the county final. They went to Croke Park to see their club play. Those sort of memories [create that] buy in I suppose going forward, whether it be GAA or camogie or at underage.
“All the players have gone through Kilbrittain National School or Gurraneasig National School, which are the two local schools. You are looking at young boys and girls that are seeing them and thinking ‘they were in our school’ and it can only be a good thing.”
Kilbrittain are always looking to the future, while making sure that everyone who has helped them along the way has a place in their overarching club history.
One person that will never be forgotten is Oisín Gillain, who sadly passed away in March 2025. The teenage sensation left a void in the village that will never be truly healed, but the Kilbrittain community is keeping his memory alive with their latest project.
“He was only 18, and he would have been on the team really,” says Ryan.
“We lost him in March 2025, and his birthday was actually on the night of the county final. Anything to do with the team and the success, Oisín is behind it. We retired his jersey last year for it.
“There’s a lot of fundraising going on at the minute for a community centre and a community gym, and it’s going to be called Oisín’s Gym. We have various fundraisers for him going on as well.”
This is what it all goes back to. The locals of Kilbrittain and the sheer love of place. Their GAA club’s success in Croke Park elevated and touched everyone. The club are building now for the next generation, and making sure no one is forgotten.