Upperchurch-Drombane captain Keith Ryan described the “unreal” feeling after his club booked their place into the All-Ireland intermediate hurling championship final at the weekend.

The Tipperary champions edged out Kilkenny counterparts Danesfort by 1-13 to 0-14 on Sunday afternoon in Portlaoise, where Pat Ryan’s early goal proved key.

Liam Dunphy’s men now look forward to a Croke Park showdown against Tooreen of Mayo on Saturday, January 10th (5.15pm) and, speaking to TippFM Sport, their skipper Ryan spoke of how he has been “incredibly proud” to be part of this group of players.

“Heading to Croke Park is stuff we dreamed of – I suppose we never would have thought at the start of the year you’d be going into Croke Park,” he stated afterwards.

“Credit to Danesfort there today, they’re an unbelievable team and that game went right down to the wire. It was tit for tat scores along the way, and it could have went either way.

“I’m just incredibly proud to be involved in the team – we just dug that out for the last five or six minutes. It was unreal stuff.”

. @churchdrombane captain Keith Ryan speaks following their 1-13 to 0-14 win over Danesfort in the All-Ireland intermediate club hurling semi-final pic.twitter.com/Gxy51ZZoD5

— Tipp FM Sport (@TippFMSport) December 21, 2025

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