Hurley says Barr’s will rebound

PRIOR to yesterday’s final, the conventional wisdom was that, while St Finbarr’s were good finishers, they struggled to start games well and it could prove to be their undoing.

The opposite was the case as they went three points up early on before being reeled in by Nemo Rangers.

Barr’s selector Briain Hurley acknowledged that Paul Kerrigan’s first-half goal punctured their early momentum: “Obviously we’re very disappointed,” he said.

“The one thing we were concentrating on before the game was getting off to a good start, which we hadn’t done in the quarter-final or the semi-final. To do so was fantastic, going 0-4 to 0-1 up and playing nice football, but then concede the goal, against the run of play you could say, kind of knocked us back a bit.

“I felt we settled down again but on the stroke of half-time we conceded three points in-a-row. Nemo can do that to teams, and it gave them an extra desire to drive on for the second half.”

With three unanswered points giving Nemo a good start to the second period, it looked as if it would be a procession for them, but the Barr’s came back, something Hurley felt deserved credit.

“In fairness to our fellas, they got going again, Robert got a great goal but Bríain Morgan pulled off a great save from Jim O’Donoghue. If that shot had gone in it was a draw game and anything could have happened, we’d have been delighted if that was the case with 10 or 15 minutes to go, but their second goal meant it was a five- or six-point turnaround and what wasn’t to be wasn’t to be.

“That’s the heartbreak of it and, when we look back at it, that’ll be the game’s real turning point.”

A second final defeat in a row, but Hurley is still positive regarding the future. “Last year I suppose you’d have put the defeat down as being part of a learning curve and something to build on,” he said.

“That was what drove us on for this year and I suppose being beaten by Nemo, your local rivals, makes things all the more disappointing but any defeat is sad.

“We’re down at the moment, I suppose there might be a few elder statesmen in there thinking about what to do next, but our minor team are going well, our U21 team won the city this year so the future is bright. We’ll be back, there’s no doubt about that.”