Destruction and ruin flowed in their gates and wiped out decades of development.

In the space of three days, Sars had gone from the summit of Cork hurling to a club submerged.

Club chairman Keith Mulcahy rang Johnny Crowley on the Thursday. Twenty-four hours had come and gone since the decision was taken to open their gates as a means of relieving pressure on the flood-threatened houses and businesses around them. Mulcahy told the senior hurling manager to come down and have a look.

“Keith, John O'Connell, and I walked around the place. It was bleak. It was devastating,” says Crowley.

“Long before my time, there were many decades of hard work to build up this club. Prior to last Wednesday fortnight, the magnificent facilities were something that the people of the club were very, very proud of; the bar, the gym, a playing surface probably second to none, the all-weather pitch, the wall ball. It was a fantastic complex.

“A lot of great people made all of that happen. For all that to be taken so quickly and the fact it now needs to be completely redeveloped, it is sad.”

The drainage system underneath the pitch was blown apart by the sheer force of water that covered it. Glass and other depositories from the floods have contaminated a once pristine playing surface. Worse still, some of the sinkholes are so big you’d fit a car in them.

Tarmacadam has been ripped up and walkways are unsafe.

In short, their home has become a hazardous site.

While the clubhouse might resume some sense of normality this weekend, the rest of the place is a no-go. The only ones let in are the structural engineers and loss assessors who studied the wreckage last week.

It remains too early to put a price on putting it all back together. Neither can you put a price on what’s been taken away.

“Where it has hit us is we have nowhere to go in terms of a central meeting point. That was our meeting point,” Crowley continued.

“You go down there on a Saturday morning and there are 150-200 kids togged. It would have been brilliant the last two Saturday mornings to walk down there with the Cup and show it to the kids, the next generation.

“They also have a coffee shop on Saturday morning and there is a great oul buzz of activity down there. That’s all gone. These are the little things you don't even think about.

“But everything in perspective. You look at the devastation to people's homes and livelihoods in Copper Valley, Midleton, Mogeely, Killeagh, Ladysbridge. Whereas this is a club and I have no doubt we will rise again. It may take 12 months, 16 months, but I have no doubt it will come back to its past glory.” 

Once the videos began circulating on WhatsApp of their drowning facilities, the phone calls started to rain in.

Sars had a Munster club semi-final against Ballygunner to prepare for and no neighbour would see them stuck.

“The support from all of Cork GAA was immense. The amount of phone calls I got, I couldn't get over it. Likewise, Keith was onto me nearly every hour saying this club has rang and that club has rang offering their facilities.” 

On Tuesday and Thursday evenings, they’ve trained at Páirc Uí Rinn. On Wednesdays, they’ve been in the Mardyke for gym work and video analysis. On Sundays, they’ve operated out of Brian Dillons above in White’s Cross.

They’ve gone all in on attempting to become the first Cork senior club to win a Munster hurling championship fixture since 2016.

Last Thursday week, Crowley reckons they put down their best session of the year. Speed, vigour, attitude, desire. It was all there.

“After that session, our attitude might have changed slightly in the sense of, ‘yeah, let's really, really go at this thing’.

“In 2010 we were beaten by De La Salle in the Munster semi-final after extra-time in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. That was hugely disappointing on a personal level. We trained the following season up in Eddie O'Connell's farm. When we trained there on Paddy's Day, De La Salle were up in Croke Park playing in the All-Ireland club final. It had just been the puck of a ball between us.

“Every game we have played this year, there have been huge tasks and massive hurdles. This is going to be the biggest one we face.”