Top seed and semi-final secured for Cork champions, St Finbarr's
CLOSE ATTENTION: St Finbarr's Bill O'Donnell tackles Carbery Rangers' Alan Jennings at Ballinascarthy on Sunday. Pic: Denis Boyle
The reigning Cork football champions are straight through to this year’s semi-finals and look every inch the serious contenders once again.
Sunday’s group encounter against Carbery Rangers at a windswept Ballinascarthy was a proverbial game of two halves between a pair of clubs already qualified for the knockout stages.
What set St Finbarr’s apart was a cold-blooded 2-8 amassed in the opening 30 minutes with a strong wind at their backs. Carbery Rangers, utilising the same wind, could only muster seven points after the short whistle. The Barrs' measured, controlled display showed St Finbarr’s at their clinical best.
Clearly, the experience of winning a county championship has helped an already talented pool of players evolve into an even better and more rounded unit. That spells bad news for the remaining clubs in this year’s Cork PSFC.
Bottom line, the champions are in rude health. St Finbarr’s are coming back for their title and have an extra couple of weeks off before contesting a county semi-final.
Who is going to stop them?
Paul O’Keefe’s side’s superior game management aginast Carbery Rangers underlined the quality of his current panel.
“We felt that we already had a good points differential and that even if we won by a tight margin, we would still have gotten over the line in terms of reaching the county semi-finals,” commented St Finbarr’s manager Paul O’Keefe. “Our hurlers are involved in championship over the next couple of weeks so this result dovetails nicely for our dual players. Look, mission accomplished, we are into the semi-finals and we will see where we go from there.”
It was 0-3 to 0-0 when St Finbarr’s, utilising a strong wind to pin back their opponents, netted the game’s first goal after 9 minutes. Sam Ryan executed a marvellous block prior to a flowing move ending with Cillian Myers-Murray finding the bottom corner.
Carbery Rangers struggled to get anything going but fought back to 1-4 to 0-3. That’s when their opponents reminded everyone present why they are amongst the best football teams in the country.
A full-length Paul Shanahan save denied Steven Sherlock a certain goal but Ethan Twomey, Sherlock (two) and Brian Hayes points saw St Finbarr’s surge clear. Ian Maguire setup Ethan Twomey for a 26th minute goal to hand the Barrs an unassailable 2-8 to 0-3 interval lead.
The second half proved a more pedestrian affair as St Finbarr’s coped better with the elements. In truth, the second period never matched the fluidity of the first. The closing 15 minutes only came to life thanks to a late flurry of scores.
Darragh Hayes (two), Peadar O’Rourke, John Hayes and Mark Hodnett (free) brought Rangers’ total to ten.
Late Myers-Murray and Sherlock points rounded off a productive afternoon for the county semi-finalists. Carbery Rangers’ focus switches to an upcoming quarter-final meeting with Nemo.
: C Myers-Murray (1-4), S Sherlock (0-6, 3 frees), E Twomey (1-2, 1 free), B Hayes (0-1).
: D Hayes (0-4, 1 free), P O’Rourke and M Hodnett (0-2 each), B Kerr and J Hayes (0-1 each).
: J Kerins; C Scully, J Burns, S Ryan; C Lyons, B Hennessy, A O’Connor; I Maguire (captain), E Comyns; S Sherlock, E Dennehy, E Twomey; E McGreevey, B Hayes, C Myers-Murray.
D Quinn for C Lyons (37), D O’Brien for E Twomey (45), C Dennehy for B Hennessy (45), B O’Connell for B Hayes (48), C Doolin for J Burns (54).
: P Shanahan; James O’Riordan, T O’Rourke (captain), K Scannell; Jerry O’Riordan, J Kevane, B Shanahan; M Hodnett, J Fitzpatrick; A Jennings, P O’Rourke, J Hodnett; B Kerr, D Hayes, C Hayes.
J O’Regan for B Kerr (39), P Hurley for C Hayes (39), J Hayes for J Keane (49), S Linehan for B Shanahan (52).
James Regan (Lough Rovers).
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