'The challenge is clear' says Maynooth's Sean Bean ahead of Kildare SHC Final with Naas

Sean Bean will, once again this year, wear the no. 1 shirt for Maynooth and as he says himself “privileged to be playing in a county final, our third in four years and when you realise that just five years ago we were an intermediate team, struggling to break through the play-off system in intermediate and for the same group of lads to be involved in the county final, it is a great sign of the work going on within the club.”

“The under age are coming through strong, the minors are in the final, well represented across all the development squads so that is a great boost.”

A passionate man when it comes to hurling Sean is clear of the challenge that lies ahead for Maynooth on Sunday.
“The challenge is clear” says Sean, “Naas have set the standard for the last number of years and for us, if you want to compete you have to come out and see what you can learn from the previous year and step it up, that is what we did last year, we looked back at the start of the year and see what we have to do and where we have to improve but also that that was what we achieved last year with the work we put in and we are in the final again and looking forward to the challenge.”

Maynooth lost out to Celbridge in the Prelim round but Sean is quick to point out that Johnny Greville (Manager) was back managing Meath then, his brother Jimmy, an excellent coach, came in and managed us throughout the league and then when they were both back together lads filtered back from study, from county teams, we got caught on the hop, Celbridge are a very good team but it just goes to prove when you are not fully motoring in a game Celbridge are more than capable, it was a set-back but we re-assessed, we had a two week break, we knew we had to improve and we did, coming through against Moorefield, Ardclough and then Coill Dubh, we knew what we had to do and thankfully we did that.

Missing
Just like Naas missing a few star players, Maynooth will be missing Kildare star David Qualter who is a huge loss. “He picked up a shoulder injury” says Sean and while his rehab is going well, realistically the aim for David is to be fully fit and be in a position to be back for Kildare in 2026.”

Similar to the thoughts of Richie Hogan of Naas, Sean says that players out gives the opportunity to others to step up and we have benefited this year from having a strong panel and it has give the chance to the likes of Adam Jordan who is finding his feet, and others whether they are starting or coming off the bench have all proved their worth and it puts Johnny Greville (manager) in a really difficult position to pick teams, that competitiveness is brilliant, lads missing out on a match day squad makes it tough but pushing everyone to be at their best.”

Minors have come through such as Tom Power, Oran Byrne, Ciaran Dunne, the Dunne brothers and of course Conall Knox, they were the spine of that U20 team, they have driven things on, bought a new energy to it; add in Cathal McCabe, a great hurler as he has shown also with the county team as well, for us a great leader but we have a great bunch of mature lads, it is not just left to one voice, unlike previous years, we have a lot of strong voices there now.”

Manager Johnny Greville a good manager?

“Absolutely, we were in a good place when he came in but he has brought us on again, great ideas, good way with everyone, a massive addition to Maynooth hurling, along with his brother Jimmy, our coach, this is his first year another great boost.”

And on Sunday's game, Sean says he can't wait.

“It is great for everyone who has invested so much in hurling, and camogie, in the club, the minor hurlers in the final, a huge amount of work from nursery up; you can't get a pitch on a Saturday such is the numbers, a great complaint, hundreds of kids playing hurling and football, hard to get on to the hurling wall any night of the week due to the underage groups but it is brilliant.”

Sunday is an important day, not just for the senior lads, but for the entire club, the kids coming down to support us and knowing that one day they hopefully will be in the position that we are in this weekend, adds Sean.

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