Vinnies enjoy Paddy’s Day rub of the green
With a strong breeze swirling towards the Canal End, scores into Hill 16 were going to be at a premium. Both sides managed four points into the wind. The management of the breeze was to prove crucial. St Vincent’s harvested 1-7 while playing into the Canal End thus pipping Nemo who came up just short, converting nine points downwind.
St Vincent's used their direct style of football to great effect. Early on Hugh Coghlan and especially Micheal O’Shea were dominating the keenly contested midfield sector. O’Shea and Maurice
McCarthy are old sparring partners. When UCC won the Cork SFC in 1999, O’Shea and McCarthy had two memorable battles. Likewise yesterday, with O’Shea shading the decision on points, barely. The Kerry man fetched superbly in the opening 20 minutes and was very strong and influential in possession.
Tiernan Diamond was very busy at centre forward and gave Martin Cronin some headaches. Knowing St Vincent’s would go long with the wind, Cronin tried to drop into the hole to cut out the supply to the inside forward line. Diamond, however got on a lot of ball and played his role of playmaker to perfection. Cronin was often left in no man’s land as the Marino men played a series of perfect long diagonal balls into the inside men.
Interestingly more often than not it was Tomás Quinn and Brian Maloney that contested these high balls, with big Pat Gilroy being used primarily as a decoy to move the solid Derek Kavanagh away from his goals. This was illustrated to perfection for Diarmuid Connolly’s game-breaking goal. A perfect diagonal delivery flicked beautifully by Quinn into Connolly’s path. He finished excellently. No complications and hardly rocket science.
Connolly had a fine game for the Dublin team. He took his goal well and threatened all afternoon. He will be disappointed with some of his finishing. On another day he could have scored 1-6.
In the second period Nemo got it right and came so close to rescuing at least a draw. Instead of allowing Micheal O’Shea to dominate air space after half time they broke everything. Maurice McCarthy had an excellent second half, as the Cork men took over in the middle third. Seán O’Brien was introduced before the break and together with Alan Cronin was outstanding at the breakdown. This trio turned the tide and ensured that the Nemo sharpshooters got some badly needed ammunition.
In this period of Nemo dominance Master’s kicked brilliantly, David Kearney buzzed dangerously and Dylan Mehigan stormed into the game. Nemo tried valiantly but could not pull level with the Dubs. Tomás Quinn played a captain’s part with two breakaway points off scraps.
One moment that will haunt Alan Cronin after a lung bursting display was his loose kick across the field when the game hung in the balance. Nemo had Vincent’s on the ropes and a point separated the teams. O’Shea was gone off the field with a blood injury and Vincent’s were wobbling.
Cronin’s crossfield kick was under pressure and the resultant turnover allowed Quinn to kick his team into a two-point lead.
On a day that is all about celebrating everything green, Nemo got no rub of it.
Peter Morgan’s early injury did not help their cause and a couple of missed scoring opportunities during the tense endgame could have forced a replay. Some crucial refereeing decisions also went against the Capwell men. The Dublin club were awarded a few dubious converted frees in the closing stages. A minute’s injury time was played which could not have covered all stoppages. Regardless of how perfect or scientific a team’s preparation, no-one can legislate for bad fortune.
St Vincent’s were just about deserving winners considering the amount of missed opportunities from the first half. They worked very hard throughout and defended fiercely at the end. Mickey Whelan showed no sentiment as he substituted some of the heroes from the semi-final win, Gilroy and Coghlan being replaced.
“Pillar” Caffrey will be planning with plenty of optimism for the summer ahead.
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