BY TOM LYONS

WHEN Limerick man Joe O’Donnell arrived in Bantry 29 years ago, his mission was simple: promote hurling in a football stronghold.

Nearly three decades on, O’Donnell is still at it.

Today he manages the Bantry Blues junior B hurling team, currently competing in the confined county championship. They lost their opening Group 4 game to St Oliver Plunkett’s, but were hoping to get back on track in another local derby against O'Donovan Rossa on Wednesday evening, with both teams needing a win.

It’s a familiar tale for Bantry hurling. Up one year, down the next. Last season, the team captured the Carbery junior B championship but opted to remain at that grade rather than step up to junior A.

A few years back they did make the jump, but the experience proved disheartening, so they chose not to repeat it this time. Some might question the ambition, but others would see it as realism in a club where football dominates.

As one of the most renowned football clubs in Cork, producing many great footballers down the years, Bantry have really only dabbled in hurling from time to time. There were teams which held their own in junior A but most of their existence has been spent in junior B.

At times hurling disappeared altogether, but there were always enough committed figures to bring it back. Over the past 30 years, O’Donnell has been the driving force behind that effort, both at underage and adult level.

‘I should have been in Ennis for the Clare v Limerick game on the day we played Plunkett’s, but when you’re committed to something, there is an obligation to put that first. That’s why I was in the rain in Dunmanway instead,’ O’Donnell explained.

‘We had a player who came home from Denmark that morning just to play, Jimmy O’Leary. That’s what you call commitment. A few others decided they were going somewhere else for the day.

‘It was a game we could have won but we were very rusty, no hurling done really. There are an awful lot of injuries at the moment – even the footballers are struggling to field. There are seven or eight injuries in the club. It’s hard to keep things going right now.’

Bantry Blues' manager Joe O'Donnell. (Photo: Paddy Feen)

If injuries and absentees are one challenge, history and culture are the bigger obstacles in a football-first town.

‘You have to build a culture. It’s not going to come overnight,’ O’Donnell said.

‘There are hurlers in Bantry good enough to compete at a higher level, lads like the Sheedys. We couldn’t play Dara and Billy Foley had exams. There is a bit of a hurling presence there, lads who are mad for it.

‘I know we couldn’t field at U14 this year, but we had a very good U14 team last year with St Colum’s. There are four Bantry lads involved in the new Carbery U15 premier hurling team, three of them playing, and that’s a huge boost.

‘We’re combined with St Colum’s from U16 to U21, but this year Colum’s have decided to go on their own at U21. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to field a team ourselves at that grade.

‘Numbers are the problem. We have a big population but they’re just not playing hurling. We have to build that culture in the town.’ 

With rugby and basketball also strong locally, hurling is competing for attention.

‘We’re pushing it as hard as we can,’ he said.

Surely, after 29 years of frustration, there are times when O’Donnell considers walking away?

‘Every day of the week!’ he laughed.

‘It isn’t easy to build a hurling culture in a strong football club, but there’s a young lad sitting there in the corner who’s mad about hurling, and there are more like him in Bantry. For their sake, we have to keep trying.

‘Of course it’s frustrating and you feel like throwing your hat at it sometimes, but we love the game. We’ve been hurling all our lives and we’re not going to stop now. All we can do is try our very best and hope it rubs off on others.

‘It won’t happen overnight, even over one generation, but we’ll keep hurling alive in Bantry.’

That commitment extends beyond the club. This year, O’Donnell also took charge of the new Carbery U15 hurling team competing in the county premier championship.

‘There’s a good team there. We beat Blackrock, had a great game with Ballincollig when we held our own,’ he said.

‘All we want to do is show the players what it’s like to play at the top level, to raise their standards and ambition. It’s a great opportunity, especially for lads from smaller clubs who might not otherwise get that chance.’

Whatever the result against O'Donovan Rossa, O’Donnell will keep going, still fighting, nearly three decades on, to keep hurling alive in Bantry.