Clough-Ballacolla's Stephen Bergin on Man of the Match award- 'I better step up here and try and get one'

Stephen Bergin had a Sunday afternoon to remember as he scored 1-13 to help Clough-Ballacolla retain their Laois Senior Hurling Championship title, their fifth in six years.

Speaking after the game, Bergin reflected on the pressure the team faced following the loss of several key players, including Picky Maher, who suffered a cruciate ligament injury, Robbie Phelan, who was suspended, and Tommy Brennan, who broke his leg earlier in the championship against Borris-Kilcotton.

“It's unbelievable, sixth now. The most pressure we've had on this group was probably today, because we're obviously missing the big man and arguably the best hurler in the county. When you take that out of your team, it's going to be a lot of pressure, and we've got a few setbacks. Robbie was missing today; he's always one of our main men. Tommy got unlucky, so it's just unreal to get over the line,” he said.

Asked if he felt it helped that most of the talk before the final was about Camross, Bergin said it may have actually worked in their favour.

“It probably suited us a little better; we could just worry about ourselves. Whatever happened in the two weeks, we didn't really care once it was outside the group. We have savage respect for Camross; they're an unbelievable team, but I know they weren’t going to take us for granted, and we didn't take them for granted, so it was going to be 50-50 on the day. I think both teams knew that, so it was just on the day,” Bergin said.

This year’s championship saw a new format introduced, with ten teams split into two groups of five. Clough-Ballacolla topped their group but endured back-to-back losses in the middle stages, something unusual for such a dominant side.

“That middle part of the year, there's no point in saying anything else; it was tough. There were a lot of questions being asked of us, and everyone was like What's going on? It's a different format, it's longer. It's all about peaking at the right time, and thank God we peaked today. We took a few hard decisions. We didn't go nitpicking; we didn't do a few things, but it's all worth it now today,” he said.

Bergin also echoed the praise from teammate Willie Dunphy and manager Willie Hyland regarding Picky Maher’s incredible recovery and emotional return from an ACL injury.

“We just spoke to Eoin there, that's fairytale stuff for Picky. This group probably can't put into words what Picky is to this group. He's probably everything we want to be, and for him to come on. I go to every game with Picky, and he never once dropped his confidence in us, his belief. He was there the whole way through, and for it to end like that, I couldn't be happier, and I guarantee you everyone else couldn't be happier. It couldn't happen to a better man,” he said.

Bergin’s display earned him Man of the Match in a county final for the first time, a moment that meant a lot within his family.

“That's the first one. Cousins Robbie and Aido had a few, so I was under pressure. I was like, I better step up here and try and get one,” Bergin said.

His manager Willie Hyland had earlier praised his ability to rise to the big occasion, noting, “He might frustrate you, maybe, in league games or challenge games. But by God, when the big day comes, Stevo never lets you down.” Bergin laughed when told of the quote, saying Hyland had told him the same thing before the game.

“He said the very thing to me in the warm-up. He said, This is why we do it. Some games are tough, I'm probably frustrating on Willie, but a final is a final and that's why we're here for these kind of days,” Bergin ended.

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