Youthful Midleton rearguard doing just fine minding the house

You’d think they are a touch young to be given full responsibility for shutting out and down the opposition scoring units, but no more than Kevin in Home Alone, they’ve had an answer for every raider.

Thu, 12 Oct, 2023 - 07:33

Eoghan Cormican

The Midleton kids have been doing a fine job minding the house.

The three goal chances closed off to St Finbarr’s a fortnight ago was the latest in a long season of spoiling.

Goalkeeper Brion Saunderson has not been beaten since the 36th minute of their Round 2 victory over Glen Rovers all the way back on Sunday, August 13. It was a Round 2 clash where they held the Glen scoreless for the closing 24 minutes of action.

Three weeks later, they held Blackrock scoreless for the opening 10 minutes of the second period. They held Blackrock to one point beyond the 46th minute. They held Blackrock to just four second half points in total.

The 2-44 given away across their three group wins was the lowest concession of the 12 Premier Senior teams. It stands as the third lowest group stage concession in the four years of the new format.

As we said, the kids have been doing just fine minding the house.

The aforementioned Saunderson, who called out to Cork manager Pat Ryan when brilliantly denying the Barrs’ Conor Cahalane in the semi-final second half, is still U20.

Of those serving in the two lines directly in front of him, corner-back Sean O’Sullivan is 23, as is the half-back pair of Tommy O’Connell and Eoin Moloney. Full-back Seán O’Leary Hayes is a year older at 24, with corner-back Séadhnaidh Smyth two years further on.

Corner-back Luke Dineen at the ripe old age of 27 is the veteran of the Magpies defence. His semi-final injury, though, has placed significant doubt over his involvement this weekend. It was 20-year-old Ciarmhac Smyth who replaced Dineen 10 minutes into the Barrs dethroning and it is Smyth who will likely get the nod this Sunday.

If he does, he will bring down the average age of the fresh-faced back seven to just under 23.

Should Midleton nab county title number nine this weekend, Eoin Moloney’s impossible dispossession of Jack Cahalane in the semi-final will rightly be heralded as one of the defining moments of their season.

As Cahalane went to pull the trigger for what seemed an inevitable green flag, Moloney appeared out of nowhere and flicked the sliotar out for a 65. Go and find it online. It is nearly worth the subscription fee alone.

“It was just a case of doing anything to get over the line really. If you give yourself the chance to get back, you never know what might happen. No one was really expecting anything from me. I saw the ball was there, so I just threw the hurley at it. Luckily, it went our way,” said Moloney, rather modestly.

“We would have been happier if it didn't get to that stage of desperate and scramble defending, but that is part of the job, really. You don't want to come off the pitch with regrets, saying to yourself, I wish I made this tackle or that tackle. You don’t want to be in the dressing-room afterwards feeling like you left someone down. It is just that will to do it for all the lads on the team.

“We are delighted not to be conceding goals. But we are also not delighted to be giving away such big opportunities.”

The trainee accountant attributes their clean bib of late to the “strong unity” that exists among the Midleton spoilers. Their relative youth is never mentioned or considered.

“It is that saying of once you're good enough, you are old enough,” he continued.

“Tommy, Séadhnaidh, Ciarmhac, and the two Seans have all been involved with Cork at some level. They have the experience. They have the know-how. They know as good as anyone how to defend.”

Moloney, a first-team regular since 2018, was at corner-back for the county win two years ago. He’s not chasing a second medal to put in a drawer somewhere. He’s chasing that intoxicating final whistle feeling.

“There is nothing better. It is something you can never get enough of. It is so hard to describe that feeling because you are after winning with lads you have known since junior and senior infants. It is just amazing.

“After 2013, people were saying Midleton would be in a county final every year or every second year, but another title didn't come until 2021. You got to just take the game as if it is your last. A lot of those 2013 fellas are still playing, that feeling at the end of a successful county final is the reason you come back every year. You want to get that feeling back.”