Glen Rovers minor hurlers are the Rebel Óg monthly award winners for October.

They retained their championship title after a battle with Sarsfields in the final and some other tough games along the way.

In 2023 the minor age grade was U17 but it moved to U18 this season for minor and of the four winners at Premier 1 and 2 level the Glen were the only ones to retain their title.

This shows just how difficult a task that is and great credit must go to all involved for their success. The Glen got the better of Aghada in their first group game, before losing to Douglas in their second tie.

They then had to beat Ballincollig to ensure they progressed, which they duly did to set up another meeting with Douglas at the quarter-final stage. This time they reversed the group stage result to face Midleton in the semi-final and what a game that turned out to be.

In a simply sublime second-half showing the Glen came from 10 points down to win by 4-12 to 1-16, scoring the four goals in four minutes. On to the final where they faced a quality Sarsfields side, in a game that all knew there was never going to be much in.

Having been six points ahead with just over a quarter of the game left, the Glen looked to have lost the momentum as Sars outscored them by 2-4 to 0-1 in an 11-minute period.

The Glen, featuring some of the U16s beaten by Sars in the final a week previously, didn’t wilt though.

They were level as Diarmuid Wall drilled a low free to the net, followed by Cian Walsh doing well to set up Michael Tadhg Brosnan’s fifth point from play and then a third of the night for inspirational centre-back Conor McCarthy.

In the end they won by 2-19 to 3-15, the slimmest of margins in a game worthy of the final.