“The only thing you really want in life is a county medal”

An out of breath Austin Gleeson got a big hug from Tony Browne as the Mount Sion magician described his late heroics against Roanmore on Sunday.

“To be honest, I was a bit out on my feet! The one over on the sideline, it was a hit and hope! Thankfully, it went over. I knew I was just about to be blown for steps for the other one so I popped it out to 'Rego' and 'Rego' did the rest.” 

The Monastery men nearly got knocked out by Clonea in the quarter finals. Billy Power’s last gasp chance sailed wide after he blocked down Gleeson in front of goal. “I felt we owed ourselves a performance after last week. That's no disrespect to Clonea. We shouldn't be here; Clonea should have beat us. But we’re here. The resilience we showed after going down to fourteen men was absolutely incredible. We just never gave up. Oh my god, it’s just amazing to be honest.” 

Sunday’s one point win made up for the semi final loss to Abbeyside/Ballinacourty in 2024. “It’s amazing. We've worked so hard to get here. Twelve months ago, it was tough to take for a long time. We said before the game that we do not want to feel that way again.” 

Aussie tasted county final defeat against Ballygunner in 2014 and 2022. He is now 60 minutes away from getting his hands on the News & Star Cup for the first time in his career. “When you start playing hurling, I started at three or four, the only thing you really want in life is a county medal with Mount Sion. I’m 30 now. I played a county final in 2014, I thought I’d be there plenty more but this is only the third one. All we want to do is go out and try to perform again.”