Early goals put St Finbarr’s on road to last eight

St Finbarr’s 3-12 Midleton 0-12

Those two goals in the opening seven minutes laid the foundation for the Barrs’ success and sounded the death knell for Midleton in a sub-standard contest.

Principally due to the excellence of Ronan Curran at centre back and the sweet point-scoring expertise of wing forward Michael Ryan, the Barrs always held the upper hand and only twice during the rather mundane proceedings did the Magpies threaten to make a real match of it.

The first occasion was just before half time when Mickey O’Connell blasted over from in front of goal and then, 10 minutes from the end, when they succeeded in cutting the deficit to four points.

Midleton lacked the necessary fire-power and finesse to make the Blues quiver and a second goal from supreme opportunist O’Mahony a minute into injury time sealed Midleton’s fate with a vengeance.

Quite simply, Midleton did not have the talent or a sufficient number of inspirational players to help them recover from their disastrous start or to push on for victory when they briefly came within range coming down the finishing straight.

The east Cork side were 2-1 in arrears and were lucky at that, because the Barrs hit five bad wides in the opening sequences, before O’Connell opened their account with a point from a free in the 12th minute. With the players around him failing to perform on a high level it was left to O’Connell to carry the can up front for Midleton.

The former Cork player hit three further points from frees before getting his first from play in the 28th minute when he ran onto a superb hand-pass from Ger Manley but hit over when a goal was there for the taking.

Sean Hennessy, with a point on the stroke of half time, was the only other Midleton player to score in the first half as the Barrs, leading 2-4 to 0-6 at the interval, looked to have matters in control.

Within seconds of the re-start however, Midleton received a major boost when corner-forward Liam Walsh found the target from an acute angle.

But, sensing danger, St Finbarr’s upped the tempo.

A point from full-forward Denis O’Regan, followed by three sublime points on the trot from man of the match Michael Ryan, powered the Blues seven points in front and left Midleton with a mountain to climb.

Despite the intimidating obstacle confronting them, Midleton gamely fought their way back into contention with three unanswered points from O’Connell, who finished the game with a total of seven.

But the Barrs held firm and with Midleton running out of steam and unable to score the goal they so desperately needed, the city side set up a quarter-final meeting with arch rivals Blackrock when Robert O’Mahony added another goal at the death.

Scorers: St Finbarr’s: R O’Mahony 2-0; C McCarthy 1-0; M Ryan 0-4; D O’Regan 0-3 (0-1 from free); A Cronin, R McCarthy, A Fitzpatrick, K Murray (free) and R Curran (65) 0-1 each.

Midleton: M O’Connell 0-7 (0-4 from frees); L Walsh 0-2; S Hennessy, G Manley and A Cotter 0-1 each.

ST FINBARR’S: F O’Mahony; P McSweeney, P Murray, P Buckley; A Dwyer, R Curran, P O’Brien; A Cronin, R McCarthy; M Ryan, A Fitzpatrick, D O’Regan; R O’Mahony, K Murray, C McCarthy.

Substitutes: T Olden for C McCarthy; E Burke for P Murray (injured); C Duffy for K Murray (injured).

MIDLETON: B Behan; P Barry, P Smyth, A Cahill; D Cott, A Ryan, D Ryan; W O’Brien, K Ryan; A Cotter, S Corcoran, M O’Connell; S Hennessy, G Manley, L Walsh.

Substitutes: D Hogan for K Ryan; G Hurley for Hennessy; Hennessy for Corcoran.

Referee: K Healy (Ballymartle).