Imokilly becomes the joy division
It’s a bigger stadium and more modern than its predecessor — the old park never flicked on the floodlights half an hour before throw-in, as happened in Páirc Uí Chaoimh II yesterday.
A time-traveller from the original opening in 1976 wouldn’t have been surprised to see Blackrock feature in a senior county final, even if the relatively recent decline of the ‘big three’ city clubs would have come as a shock. No matter. The pairing of a blue-blood urban outfit with a side combining the smaller clubs in the east of the county was one that both embodied the history of the occasion and indicated its present competitiveness.
(The time-traveller would have been floored, of course, to hear Shane Ross express his wish in the opening ceremony that the new stadium would host rugby games in a few years’ time, never mind that those wishes would be applauded by those in the stadium).
After the goalfest of the football final yesterday afternoon hopes were high for the hurling decider, but its close finish was misleading. The game was tense all through and never flowed: early on, it was a cat and mouse affair, however, with favourites Imokilly, sprinkled with intercounty experience, struggling to impose their will on Blackrock.
The city side could be happy with their first quarter: even if Imokilly full-forward Ian Cahill had dragged an early goal chance wide, four points apiece on 15 minutes a reasonable reflection of the proceedings. Rockies management will be unhappy, therefore, with the goal they leaked on 19 minutes. Cian Fleming was going away from goal and well covered but the Aghada man got his shot away and found the corner of the net, and Imokilly started to turn the screw.
Two quick points and it was 1-7 to 0-5 on 22 minutes, with the east Cork men hitting three wides in that same three minutes showing their superiority.
The ceremony and politeness of the official opening seemed to have seeped into the main event, with a shemozzle of some sort required to raise the temperature.
On 28 minutes, we had a decaffeinated approximation of a row in the Rockies’ left corner and when play swept upfield Imokilly keeper Declan Dalton saved bravely to deny the city men an energising goal: Michael O’Halloran’s late free made it 1-7 to 0-8 at the half.
A minute into the second half William Leahy made ground and shot for goal; Gavin Connolly saved but Seamus Harnedy’s crisp ground stroke on the rebound flew into the net. Blackrock responded with the next two points, however, and by the 40th minute had cut the difference to three, 2-9 to 0-12.
They had a goal chance on 42 minutes as well, and though O’Halloran’s shot hit the side netting, the same player made it a one-point game with a 45th-minute free. The game degenerated then into an ongoing exchange of frees between Leahy and O’Halloran, with both sides squandering decent chances from play too.
With five minutes left Blackrock had yet another smell of goal — and a shout for a penalty — but couldn’t convert; Harnedy’s calm point when play swung upfield seemed a match-winner.
Not quite. There was still time for Blackrock to drive a penalty over the bar, and for Imokilly’s Brian Mulcahy to strike the goal that was a match-winner, but the frenetic end wasn’t in keeping with a game that never sizzled.
That made Seamus Harnedy the first man up the steps in the new stadium to collect the Seán Óg Murphy Cup.
He was generous about the opposition afterwards.
“In fairness to the Rockies, they’re an unbelievable team,” said the man from St Ita’s. “It was the longest first half I’ve ever played in, it was hard fought. Every score we got we had to fight tooth and nail for it — the fight they showed was unbelievable.
“I was just delighted when the final whistle went, because we all knew coming up that it’d be 50-50. They’ve a lot more experience in their team than people realise — a lot of those Rockies players have minors won and U21s won, I’ve played with them on underage Cork teams and I know well how passionate they are about their club.
“They don’t have 32 counties for no reason and they’ll be there or thereabouts the next couple of years, no doubt about that. We got the rub of the green and we only got over the line at the end.
“I was on the line for the penalty at the end, and if that had gone in it could have been the end of the line for us, we only won the game at the very end, if you like.”
The traditional post-game conversation for a Cork county final centres on talent identification, a preoccupation going back, no doubt, to the time before much of the Marina was even reclaimed and drained.
For many autumns, the trees along the long stroll back into town overheard the names of youngsters who had announced themselves with a blazing display on county final day, the first step from local rumour to national recognition.
How did yesterday compare? After last week’s storms, some of the trees are no longer around, but Ger Millerick would have been a name mentioned on most strolls back into the city.
He was on most observers’ shortlists for man-of-the-match, and the minor from Fr O’Neill’s work rate and striking were certainly noticeable from start to finish.
New Cork manager John Meyler is no doubt well aware of Millerick from the Rebel minors’ run to the All-Ireland final last season: the youngster might want to be keeping next January and February free for the step up to senior.
As for the stadium itself, it goes into hibernation until springtime, when the games will begin to come thick and fast.
Then novelty yields to expectation, and traditions will begin to bed in at the new house as events dictate the appreciation of those filing in through those new electronic turnstiles.
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