“I don't want to get to Croke Park, I want to win in Croke Park” - Darren Maher

Clough-Ballacolla full back Darren Maher is not one for moral victories. It was only minutes after the final whistle but he wasn't up for any sort of nostalgia or back clapping about getting through to a final in Croke Park.

“I don't want to get to Croke Park, I want to win in Croke Park. People say that we are in bonus territoy, that's rubbish. We are fully entitled to be there.

“We have beaten the Wexford champions and the Dublin champions. We are not going to make up numbers. There is too much pride in this club and community just to say we played in Croke Park.”

Maher shoots from the hip both on and off the field and his display of no nonsense full back play last Saturday night was a key component to his club getting the better of Kilmacud Crokes.

He wasn't up for the praise though and instead focused on the work rate that his club mates produced out the field to make sure as little quality ball as possible got into his marker and Crokes main man, Ronan Hayes.

“It's all about the quality of ball that goes into these lads. The effort of our boys in the middle third was unreal. Ronan Hayes and Alex Considine are unbelievable hurlers so if you give them space and give them the space where balls can be pucked into them, there is nothing you can do.”

Targets were produced at the start of the year to be the kings of Laois hurling but in the last few months, they have had to be updated much to the delight of Maher.

“We had targets at the start of the year to win County finals and I suppose your dream is to represent your club in Leinster final. It is one of those things where you re-assess your targets, we looked at Rapparees, then we said we would have a crack at Kilmacud.

“We are suited to the underdogs tag. If you were to read the National media, we weren't going to keep it pucked out to them. It was a workmanlike performance.”

While they have no shortage of skill, the pure and raw work rate is what set them apart this year so far. They looked down and out in both the Laois semi final and final earlier this year and have now defied the bookies odds twice in two weeks in Leinster.

Darren Maher agreed that work rate has to be a given for any successful team.

“That's the foundations of any successful team. Declan told us that we had all the hurling done and just to worry about the work rate, that's what it came down too.

“It is December hurling, a couple of weeks after the toy show and we are still hurling. It suits a team that wants to work the hardest and I think we had a bit more hunger that sealed the deal for us.

“The character in this team has been on a different level the last two years. The semi final against Rathdowney-Errill, we were a man down and seven points down but we won, Borris-Kilcotton we were seven down as well but we chipped away. We have this spirit that we will keep going until the bitter end.”

PICTURE SPECIAL: Guts and Glory as Clough Ballacolla make history to qualify for Leinster final

Saturday night was special for the club stalwart but he is hoping for more glory days before he hangs up his hurl in the future.

“Probably my proudest moment in a Clough Ballacolla jersey with the calibre of players and men in the backroom team. I think I will have to rank everything after I finish up but today is a special moment. We had a hoo-doo hanging over us that we never won a Leinster championship game and after beating Rapparees, that was a massive thing, especially for a lot of the older lads.”

Another standout feature of the game was the support that Clough Ballacolla had in the stands. It was deafening at times and for such a small club in terms of the size of the area, it must of been a case of last one out, turn off the lights last Saturday.

“The crowd, oh my god. It was great to be out there but I would have loved to have been in the stand, I'd say it was great craic. Every house in the parish could have been robbed, I think there was no one left behind”, quipped Maher.

Clough Ballacolla through to Croke Park Leinster final after heroic display

LEINSTER CLUB SENIOR HURLING CHAMPIONSHIP SEMI FINAL