Quinn: We always find a way

They won in a shootout yesterday, they chiselled out a win a defensive battle against Kilmallock — any which way, Thurles Sars will find a way to win, says manager Seamus Quinn.

“Kilmallock is a tight pitch, the stadium (Semple) is a bit different — the crowd is further back and you have more room to express yourself on the field. I thought both teams did that.”

So they did, none more so than veteran midfielder Johnny Enright who, following the early injury to his partner Michael Gleeson, took up the slack for Thurles and put in a superb performance.

Quinn agreed: “Johnny has a new lease of life since he’s gone out to the middle of the field but he has all of the experience in the world. He pulled off some great scores from frees.”

For Sars (Cork) manager Pat Ryan, this was a chance lost, though the Cork champions bowed out with honour. However he had some issues with the officiating.

“I’m very proud of our fellas. We were six points down in the second half and we didn’t get many breaks.

“I think sometimes when you have a lot of inter-county players on your team, you get a lot of frees. I don’t think we got that.

“Michael Cussen inside was winning ball, fellas hanging off him and he couldn’t get any free, but if you touched Pádraic Maher, he was down and they got a free.

“Pádraic’s a super player but I think if you’re not an inter-county player you don’t get those frees.

“You could see that in the second half — we didn’t get any frees.

“Maybe Michael needs to work on it — maybe he’s too honest, needs to go down and get more frees.

“But the better team won on the day and we wish them the best of luck against De La Salle in the final.”