We cannot get overwhelmed by the occasion insists Fermoy boss Ring

ON Sunday afternoon Fermoy will take on Bandon for the honour of becoming the latest addition to the ranks of Cork senior hurling and at the helm of the north Cork side is a Cloughduv man, Denis Ring.

The head tactician is widely respected around the county for his knowledge of the game and his ability to get the best from his sides and this weekend he knows that he will have to again pull a genie from the bottle if his side are to see off a highly respected and proven Bandon outfit.

“It is a huge day for the club but you can get lost in the occasion. On the day it is all about getting the performance right. Nobody is going to remember who got to the final and lost.

“Bandon and Mallow played the game before our first semi-final and it is widely reported that it was a much better game than our game. We played a Cloyne side that had experience in abundance.

“They knew how to win. We went into the first game with over five weeks of a break and it took us time to get going. I thought we did better the second day so I suppose we must be happy that we got the two games and managed to get through.”

Ring is only too aware of the importance of the next couple of weeks however it is the fact that it is a dual success is what impresses him most.

“This club never really had that dual success over the years. In fairness it is all about the lads though. I think there is only one of them married which is lucky for us all as there otherwise would have been a number of divorces because of the dedication they have all shown.

“The commitment they have given is astonishing. I don’t know how they can commit to both codes, we struggle with just one but they have done it in both. It really is all about the players. They are a credit to themselves, their families and their club.”

While Ring would have liked a good break between the semi-final and the showpiece game he is happy enough to be able to get the first crack at the senior challenge.

“It probably suits us to go straight from the Cloyne games into this one as the touch can often be lost when you go from football to hurling. In this club we split the assets 50/50.

“Everyone knows where they stand. Both Noel Crowley [football manager] and I know when we have the players and all the players know what they will be doing at a particular night. That has been one of the secrets to this success this year. The players and the admins buy in to the whole dual role idea.”

Respect for the opposition? Plenty of course.

“Bandon have great pace up front and they are a real attacking threat. They now have Michael Cahalane back which is great to see. You want players like that in the game but we will have to deal with him and the others.

“They have Mark Sugrue, the Crowleys, O’Mahony and many more dangerous players. Look, we have been very miserly at the back in the last four games and we will need to be that again as well as providing our own threat up front but we will do our best on the day and hopefully it will work out

for us.”