Erin’s Own show mettle to deliver another county title
CHAMPIONS: Erin's Own's joint captains Tom Foley and James McMahon raise the trophy after defeating St. Catherine's in the Co-Op Superstores Cork Premier JHC final at Pairc Ui Chaoimh. Picture; Eddie O'Hare
There are many who talk the talk of what it means to be a club, but there’s no doubting that Erin’s Own walk the walk too.
They strutted their stuff in Páirc Uí Chaoimh again on Saturday night, as their second team secured a second county title in as many seasons with a well-deserved win over St Catherine’s.
In a club, it’s about giving what you have for the benefit of all. Few have given more to Erin’s Own than Shane Murphy and Patrick Fitzgerald. Sixteen years after they secured back-to-back senior titles, here they were again, giving their all to deliver back-to-back junior titles.
Fitzgerald was rock solid at full-back as he always has been, while Murphy was the embodiment of doing the right thing at the right time at midfield.
Their captain, James McMahon, is to the Banner born, but he has found a home away from home in Caherlag.
“It’s beyond anything I could have thought of when I joined the club. It was really just getting involved in the community and playing a bit of hurling, and they’ve a great bunch of lads here in Glounthaune and they accepted me in.
"We’ve gotten on a bit of a roll, personally, I’m absolutely delighted. The club, we’re in a really good place. To have your second team competing at that level in Páirc Uí Chaoimh is fantastic, it’s really important us.”
Their utilitarianism was also on view in their use of Robbie O’Flynn who last took the field at this venue in May when he ruptured his hamstring after scoring Cork’s second goal against Tipperary in the Munster championship. It would have been easy just to start him, but their manager, Brian O’Shea, preferred to look at the bigger picture.
“We thought long and hard about what was the best thing to do for Robbie, because at the end of the day, he’s come back from six months of injury.
"The expectation of people that he’d come on; it’s not fair. I’ve been around too long, it’s not going to happen.
"It was great to bring him on, it was great to bring him on against Barryroe, give him that bit of time.
"But we feel it was a squad effort, it was always going to be the bench, it was always going to be 20 players, be that Robbie or be that other players coming off the bench. That was going to be the winning and losing of it.”
When he did come on after 40 minutes, O’Flynn’s side led by 1-12 to 1-5 and looked extremely comfortable. It stayed that way for 10 minutes before a long ball from Shane Cotter got lost in the sun and ended up in the net, giving Catherine’s a lifeline.
Two O’Flynn points then sandwiched a Sean O’Donoghue ’65, and that seemed to be that. There was one more kick in St Catherine’s however, as points from O’Donoghue and Eoin Davis made it a three-point game.
Davis had one last shot at deliverance with a 25-metre free deep into stoppage time, but it whizzed over the bar, and that was that.
Erin’s Own raced into an early 0-6 to 0-1 lead as Alan Bowen was on target thrice with Tom Foley, McMahon and Andrew O’Sullivan also pointing while Brian Mulcahy raised a white flag for Catherine’s.
The side in yellow and purple then had a purple patch as they hit 1-3 of the next 1-4 to level the game for the only time.
O’Donoghue, Mulcahy and Oisin Fitzgerald hit the minors, Dan Mangan struck the major as McMahon had his second for Erin’s Own.
Crucially, Erin’s Own hit back quickly with John Kavanagh whipping to the net and Bowen and Mark Collins pointing to give their side a 1-9 to 1-4 interval lead.
A lackadaisical third quarter went the way of the Caherlag-based side with O’Sullivan trading scores with Mulcahy before McMahon and Kavanagh extended their lead to seven.
Nothing much happened from there until the late drama, but there was to be no tragedy as Erin’s Own celebrated their 60th birthday with their 9th adult county title.
J Kavanagh (1-1), A Bowen (0-4, 0-1 ’65, 0-1 free), J McMahon (0-3), A O’Sullivan and R O’Flynn (0-2 each), M Collins and T Foley (0-1 each).
: D Mangan and S Cotter (1-0 each), B Mulcahy (0-3), S O’Donoghue (0-3, 0-1 ’65, 0-1 free), E Davis (0-2, 0-1 free), O Fitzgerald (0-1).
T Dillon; A Moynihan, P Fitzgerald, B Nolan; B Óg Murphy, I O’Mahony, C McDonnell; S Murphy, G O’Mahony; A Bowen, J McMahon (c), T Foley; A O’Sullivan, M Collins, J Kavanagh.
: R O’Flynn for Foley (40), A Power for McMahon (53), C Dunphy for G O’Mahony (inj, 61), C O’Mahony for Collins (63).
: E Davis; F O’Connell, E O’Riordan, L O’Conor; E Wallace, K Wallace, C Hegarty (c); O Fitzgerald, S Cotter; D Morrisson, R Galvin, S O’Donoghue; B Mulcahy, D Mangan, K Barry.
: E Condon for Mangan (inj, h/t), G O’Brien for E Wallace (h/t), K O’Donoghue for Morrisson and M Mulcahy for Barry (both 40), J Neville for O’Connell (inj, 50).
: Aidan Hyland (Kilworth).
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