Veteran Barry hails team leaders

After enduring a famine between 1957 and 2008, Sarsfields are more than happy to embrace the feast they are currently experiencing with yesterday’s win following the victories of 2008 and ’10.

For captain and full-back Joe Barry, it was achieved in a spirited fashion in the second half after trailing at half-time, which made it very satisfying. Such a thing was not unique, it should be noted, as the Riverstown club have shown in their two previous wins, against Bride Rovers and Glen Rovers, that they were able to eke out victories in close affairs.

“Certainly, to win three counties in five years, and contest four of the finals, is something that we can be proud of,” he said.

“We went in five points down against Bride Rovers in 2008. We were down again at half-time in this match. We have something in us in the second half, we almost have to be put under pressure to win.

“The forwards in the second half, against the wind, did a lot of work to keep the ball down at the other end. The Bishopstown backs were fantastic but we were able to squeeze it out in the end.”

Down by 0-9 to 0-7 at the interval, Sars slowly began to take control of the game in the second period. In the dressing room, the focus had been on an overall improvement, eradicating the sloppiness which had crept in, rather than any specific thing.

“We were calm, but we were very unhappy with how we had played,” Barry said.

“We had prepared well but we had kind of let ourselves down in the first half. Our standard is a lot higher than that, we believe. We try to set high standards and we didn’t meet those standard in the first half.

“We just laid down the gauntlet among ourselves said that we were either going to do it or we weren’t. We hadn’t performed, that was the main thing, and we knew that we had to.

“Bishopstown are a great team, they’re unbelievably fit, and we knew they’d be like that. But, we did have faith in ourselves and we knew that if we performed then we’d win.

“We didn’t do that in the first half, in the second half I think we did a bit better.”

Barry’s speech as he accepted the Seán Óg Murphy Cup was a dignified and thoughtful one, and he managed to keep going despite an oncoming hoarseness. Skippering a county winning side was something he wondered if he’d ever achieve.

“This is my 15th year on the panel and I’ve been vice-captain a few times, it’s a great honour, at 34 I thought maybe the ship had sailed!” he laughed.

“But they’re a fantastic bunch of lads, they don’t require a leader at all because there are so many experienced guys there.

“It was just a matter of going up to collect the cup and giving a squeaky speech at the end of it!”

Now, the focus turns to a Munster championship campaign in the short-term and then an attempt at retaining the title, something the club has never achieved.

“We didn’t discuss it before today, obviously, but we want to do both of those things,” Barry said.

“Deep down, we are disappointed at not having produced in Munster and getting to at least a Munster final. That would be something on our minds.

“We’ll enjoy the next few days, but we set out this year to win every championship match that we played and that doesn’t stop here.”