Ultimately, it was St Michael’s more polished forward division that earned the Blackrock club its first Cork U21 ‘A’ football title since 1976 in Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

Coláiste Chríost Rí 0-8 St Francis College, Rochestown 0-6: While this southside derby veered more towards the tense than the exhilarating at Church Road in Blackrock yesterday, Coláiste Chríost Rí could yet look back on it as being very beneficial.