Shane Cotter, St Catherine's, pictured ahead of the AIB GAA Club Hurling All-Ireland Junior Championship Final, between St Catherines and Tullogher Rosbercon. This season, AIB will honour #TheToughest players in Gaelic Games - those who persevere no matter what, giving their all for their club and community. AIB is in its 33rd year supporting the AIB GAA All-Ireland Club Championships. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
By Cian O’Connell
Two decades spent hurling at adult level for St Catherine’s ensures Shane Cotter has learned valuable sporting lessons along the way.
Getting ready for Saturday’s AIB All-Ireland Club JHC Final against Tullogher-Rosbercon brings hope and excitement. The Croke Park occasion must be embraced according to Cotter. “Definitely,” he replies instantly. "The odds of us getting here or any club getting here are quite small. So, you want to really enjoy it, to take it in. It is a massive occasion for our club and for us as a team and management.
“We've done what we can at this stage, we are really looking forward to it. Final touches this week, but it is here to be enjoyed now, to try to get as much out of it. There is a massive prize at the end, hopefully we can come out one the right side.”
It has been a strange campaign for St Catherine’s. Losing the Cork Junior decider to Erin’s Own second team hurt deeply, but Denis Walsh’s outfit have responded in defiant fashion. “We lost our county final, but through it being Erins Own second team, we knew once we got to the final, that the county final wasn't going to be the end of it,” Cotter explains.
“So, it was strange that way. The high of the build up to the county final and to lose it was tough. We just didn't perform fantastically on the day, unfortunately, Erins Own probably had our number.
“There was a decision then taken by everyone that we would try to get as much out of the year as we could, to push on.
“We treated all of this as a bit of a bonus and a new competition, it was an opportunity for us to get some form of a cup from the year, to build on for the coming years. It has been a great journey and a great adventure. We are all enjoying it.”
Adapting to different circumstances has been part of this adventure. Dealing with setbacks. Recovering and recalibrating. “It is funny how it works out,” Cotter says. “We had a three week break, as such, before the first round of the Munster. We played on a Saturday and ended up going back training the following Friday.
“Our U21s hadn't played championship, so they had a round of championship, I think it was a cleansing of the soul, that there is another opportunity. Normally you lose a county final and you don't get to play for another eight months in championship.
“It was our opportunity as a team and a club to try to get something out of it. We actually did quite a lot as a group of players and management.
“The decision was made pretty quickly to put our heads down, to try to get something out of it. Probably the fact we were playing Ardmore, who aren't too far away from us added a bit of extra spice to it.”
On the line Catherine’s continue to be inspired by Walsh, a totemic figure in the history of the club. As a player in both codes Walsh flourished. Training teams and developing players at every level has been part of his remit too.
“He has been phenomenal, he is great,” Cotter remarks. “You probably don't appreciate how lucky we are until you're around him coaching or managing a team.
“I've been lucky in that when I was growing up, Denis was involved in different aspects of the teams. He probably coached us when we were the first from the club at U16 and minor to play premier top grade hurling as a juvenile club.
“That mindset has always stuck with me, that we deserve to be at the top table. It is hard work, you need to build on it to get there, he is phenomenal. He is a great person first of all, there is a person behind the character too.
“What he has done for us as a team, he will put as much work in with you as you will put in with him. That is the best way to put it, he has brought lads on. He has tried to help us as much as he can.
“He has a great team around him in Ollie, Eddie, and Tadhg Óg doing the hurling, John, Pat, and Dolores - he has a good team around him, which is brilliant.”
Throughout the years the Cotter family are well versed in attending important matches at Croke Park. Orla Cotter delivered for Cork so many during a decorated camogie career. That St Catherine’s are involved means it will be a little different this weekend. “Obviously, we had some great times following Orla up there,” Cotter says.
“It was brilliant. You probably don't appreciate how frequently we got up there, whereas the big difference here is that it is with your friends. It is with people you've grown up with, people who have been there for the relegations, the highs and the lows.
“I think for the community, for everyone it has been a massive lift. January can be a funny old month, there isn't too many people complaining in the parish at the moment about it being January.
“We had a big fundraiser last weekend for our third pitch. Now on the second weekend in January we get to go to Croke Park, it is brilliant stuff. It is an adventure and a journey, it is about trying to enjoy it.”
Throughout his time with St Catherine’s at adult level, Cotter has relished representing the club. As a willing teenager Cotter absorbed an educational 2004 season when Cork intermediate glory was secured.
“We won the county that year, as a young fella coming on to that team, you are just expecting the buzz every year,” he laughs.
“We had a couple of great years up at senior, we didn't achieve what we probably should have with the talent. Then, in 2010-11 the slippery slope, we got relegated. We played at intermediate for a couple of years and ended up going back down to junior in 2015.
“We won a junior county in 2017, it was 13 years since the first county final. I never thought I'd be waiting that long to play in a second one. Then, we got to play in two of them in 72 hours. This year in Cork there is a lot of clubs, who have been regrading.
“It is about level setting, we feel we are capable of playing at a higher level. We need to go out, to perform.
“With all of the work being done in the background with the club, we feel it is up to us, as a group of players and management, to get that one step further, to win our own junior county, to progress as much as we can in the levels.”
Cotter is still ready, willing, and able to answer the St Catherine’s call.
