{"id":548570,"date":"2026-07-14T03:54:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T03:54:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/548570\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T03:54:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T03:54:17","slug":"brian-roche-league-titles-show-hard-work-is-paying-off-for-bride-rovers-but-championship-is-the-real-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/548570\/","title":{"rendered":"Brian Roche: League titles show hard work is paying off for Bride Rovers but championship is the real test"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brian Roche insists Bride Rovers won\u2019t be getting carried away after adding the Red FM Division 2 Hurling<\/a> League title to last year\u2019s growing list of achievements.<\/p>\n

The Rathcormac club produced an impressive display to defeat Erin\u2019s Own 1-21 to 0-14 in the league decider, with Roche contributing five points and leading by example with a tireless work-rate throughout.<\/p>\n

The victory continues a remarkable run for Bride Rovers, who captured the Co-op Superstores Senior A Hurling Championship and Red FM Division Three league title last season before securing promotion and another trophy this year.<\/p>\n

While delighted to see the club\u2019s hard work rewarded, Roche says the focus quickly turns to a much bigger challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s brilliant and credit to all the players,\u201d Roche said afterwards. \u201cThe last couple of years just show all the work we\u2019ve been doing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n Winning the league and championship last year and then it would have been easy to rest on our laurels coming into this year, but we drove on.\n <\/p>\n

\u201cThe work the boys have done is unbelievable. We had a few brilliant matches in the league and there were a few ups and downs as well. We had a few poor results recently but today we were on it from the start, and we just drove on from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

An early goal from Louie Roche gave Bride Rovers the perfect platform and proved a major turning point in the contest.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a brilliant way to start the game,\u201d Roche said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really focused on getting a good start and a good first five or 10 minutes. When Louie gets into those positions, he\u2019s always capable of finishing them and he showed again that he can take scores from anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LochlannLochlann Ryan, aged four,\u00a0 joins Bride Rovers co-captains Conleith Ryan and (left) goalkeeper Cian Hogan as they are presented with the cup by Daniel Lane, operations manager, Cork County Board. Picture: Larry Cummins<\/p>\n

The win provides valuable momentum heading into Bride Rovers\u2019 eagerly-awaited return to the Premier Senior Hurling Championship, where they face Newcestown on August 1.<\/p>\n

However, Roche stressed that championship success remains the real target.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great win three weeks out and a great way to prepare for a big game like that,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we know we won\u2019t be judged at the end of the year on this. It\u2019s in three weeks when the big game is on and that\u2019s when our real championship starts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Driving on<\/p>\n

Bride Rovers will also compete in Division 1\u00a0 next season following their promotion, another sign of the club\u2019s progress.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all believe that\u2019s where we should be,\u201d Roche added. \u201cIn Division 1 you\u2019re not getting any easy games. There are brilliant teams in Division 2 as well, but it\u2019s great to be up there and testing ourselves against the best teams.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ConleithConleith Ryan with partner Clodagh McHugh and children Fauna and Lochlann after the win over Erin\u2019s Own.\u00a0Picture: Larry Cummins<\/p>\n

Despite sweltering conditions for the final, Roche felt Bride Rovers\u2019 preparation allowed them to maintain their intensity throughout.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was roasting,\u201d he laughed.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut Alan Fitzgerald had us well prepared with plenty of water, fluids and everything we needed. We know we\u2019ve the work done and that we\u2019d be able to keep going for 60 minutes regardless of the conditions. We just kept driving on right until the end.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brian Roche insists Bride Rovers won\u2019t be getting carried away after adding the Red FM Division 2 Hurling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":548571,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1965,1964,61,60,112],"class_list":["post-548570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-hurling","tag-cork-gaa","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=548570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/548571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}