"Utter disappointment" as Danesfort lose out on cusp of Croke Park

In the end it proved to be one step too far as Danesfort’s 2025 championship season came to its conclusion just days in advance of Christmas.

The Kilkenny intermediate winners went down to a narrow loss against Upperchurch Drombane but they never quite found their full flow over the course of the 60 minutes of action.

“The initial feelings at the moment are utter disappointment and maybe in a week or two we will be able to look back on what has been a great journey for the club but the feeling of being so close to Croke Park and to narrowly fall, that’s just the heartbreaking thing at the moment,” Danesfort selector Paul Pembroke said afterwards.

“A brilliant year all the same but we just couldn’t get a grip on the game today and we were always chasing it a little and we fell just short in the end.”

The second half penalty save by Upperchurch’s Ciaran Shortt at the expense of Paddy Hogan proved to be a real turning point on the end result and had that gone in, things may have turned out very different.

“The penalty was unfortunate as the keeper made a great save but we still managed to get the game back level even after that so I really thought we were going to drive on and the next score was always going to be crucial and they were the ones to get it from a free.

“They nailed their scores from short in and from distance and fair play to them as they kind of always stayed ahead of us.”

Danesfort had started well and took the early initiative but their hardened Tipperary opponents grabbed a goal at a crucial time and the ‘Fort were chasing a little from that point on.

“They got the goal early on so we were chasing a bit from there and while we did get back level and I really thought we’d drive it on, they just finished the game better than us,” Pembroke continued.

Getting goals for themselves has been a huge asset of the Danesfort team but they were a bit off it in that regard and even the half-time introduction of Richie Hogan couldn’t stem the tide.

“We probably didn’t create enough goal chances in the game and we knew they were good defensively and that we wouldn’t have many opportunities and we tried to change things up by bringing Richie Hogan and they still marshalled us well.”

While it was a disappointing way to bow out of the All-Ireland series, Pembroke and the Danesfort squad as a whole had no excuses about the final loss.

“We probably didn’t fully reach our potential but I wouldn’t blame the conditions on that either as the pitch was in excellent condition and it was very firm underfoot.

“It was probably the least amount of chances that we’ve created in front of goal all year but we knew it was going to be a tough game coming up here as they are a hard physical team and they probably just got the better of us in turnovers and stuff.”

The club can still look back on a magnificent season that was headlined with the final wins over James Stephens and Ratoath and with the passing of time, it’s a year that will be remembered with great fondness.

With the camogie team also grabbing championship silverware, the winter will be a short one amongst the Danesfort community.

“It’s still a great year across all codes of the club as we won the camogie county title as well as all the hurling success and we would have taken all of that when we set out our objectives at the start of the year,” Pembroke added.

“It’s been a great stepping stone before moving on to senior next year so hopefully we can kick it on again.”