St Finbarr's get championship off to winning start against Douglas

The Barrs, in all honesty, were bang average. But they got away with being bang average because opponents Douglas were below par in so many aspects of their play.

Fri, 26 Jul, 2024 - 22:10

Eoghan Cormican, Carrigaline

St Finbarr’s 1-10 Douglas 0-10

The Barrs were far from brilliant. Then again, they got away with being far from brilliant.

The Barrs, in all honesty, were bang average. But they got away with being bang average because opponents Douglas were below par in so many aspects of their play.

Minus the injured defensive pair of Sam Ryan and Billy Hennessy, and minus the Cork senior hurling pair of Brian Hayes and Ethan Twomey until they were introduced in tandem entering second-half injury-time, a less-than-full-strength Barrs collected the two points they came to Carrigaline for to throw in their county championship campaign on a positive note.

The negatives, or rather the work-ons, was the 15 minutes they went without a score following the Steven Sherlock goal that put them 1-5 to 0-4 in front on 21 minutes.

Twenty-six minutes was the length of time they went without a score from play following the same Sherlock goal. Cillian Myers Murray, on 46 minutes, brought that particular wait to an end.

From there to the finish, Brian Roche’s side would add only one more white flag. Enda Dennehy took advantage of growing space in a pushed-up Douglas defence to push the Togher men 1-10 to 0-8 ahead two minutes shy of the hour. Their game-management from here wasn’t hectic.

Seán Powter and substitute Rob Hanley kicked successive points in second-half stoppages to bring Douglas within a score. And when Darragh Kelly cut in along the endline, there was a small sense of panic from the Barrs dugout at the threat of an equaliser. Kelly, though, spilled possession and with it the opportunity to spark chaos and sneak a levelling green flag.

Douglas’ use of possession, their decision-making, and execution of passes within sight of the opposition posts had been a letdown all evening. Douglas’ biggest let-down of all, though, was their finishing.

Their wide count stood at 10 come the finish. Six of those arrived during an opening half where they failed desperately to take advantage of the breeze at their backs. Goalkeeper Andrew Cotter and Alan O’Hare accounted for all bar one of those misses.

The collective radar went completely out of whack in the 10 minutes between Sherlock’s major at the far end of the field and referee David Murnane’s call for half-time. A four-in-a-row of Douglas wides. All the possession and all the play. But nothing to show for it.

The game’s sole goal came from a turnover forced by impressive Barrs defender Alan O’Connor. Johnny Wigginton Barrett’s point attempt lacked legs, with Sherlock pouncing to punch the fading shot to the net. The last score of the half. 1-5 to 0-4 turning around. And turning around with the wind now in their favour.

But as mentioned, the Barrs couldn’t find a score from play in the third quarter. Instead, three Sherlock frees cancelled out three white flags from Conor Kingston, Padraig Lucey, who was so poorly fed as a full-forward target, and Andrew Cotter.

The swelling of the Douglas wides tally meant they never got closer than three at any point in the second period. Their remaining two group games against Valley Rovers and Mallow now take on must-win status.

“A lot of things we were happy with in the first half, second half got a bit sloppy. Got a few points ahead, but probably didn’t move the ball as well as we’d like. But first game of championship, we’ll take the win,” said Barrs selector Ian Keeler. A neat summation of a fixture that will be quickly forgotten.

Scorers for St Finbarr’s: S Sherlock 1-4 (0-4 frees); J Wigginton Barrett, I Maguire, W Buckley, C Scully, C Myers Murray, E Denney (0-1 each).

Scorers for Douglas: A Cotter (0-2 frees), P Lucey (0-1 frees, 0-2 each); A O’Hare (0-1 free), S Aherne, B Lynch, C Kingston, S Powter, R Hanley (0-1 each).

ST FINBARR’S: D Newman; B O’Connell, F Crowley, C Scully; C Lyons, A O’Connor, C Doolan; I Maguire, J Burns; E Dennehy, E McGreevy, W Buckley; J Wigginton Barrett, C Myers Murray, S Sherlock.

Subs: B Hayes for Burns, E Twomey for McGreevy (both 60).

DOUGLAS: A Cotter; D Murphy, N Walsh, B Lynch; S Powter, D Buckley, K Flahive; N Hartnett, K Shanahan; S Aherne, D Kelly, C Kingston; A O’Hare, P Lucey, A Cantwell.

Subs: S O’Leary for Cantwell, D Ward for Walsh (HT); R Hanley for O’Hare (50); B Hartnett for K Hartnett (59).

Referee: D Murnane (Macroom).