Stunning Fr O'Neill's upset puts bewildered Barrs on the brink of elimination
TOUGH STUFF: Fr O’Neill’s Joe Millerick is tackled by St Finbarr’s Sam Cunningham, during their Premier SHC clash at Midleton. Picture: David Keane
A stunning upset. A jolt of electricity and shock through the Cork hurling championship. Fr O’Neill’s all but certain of quarter-final involvement. St Finbarr’s all but certain of premature elimination.
Tormented and tortured Togher eyes turn to Coachford on Sunday afternoon. If Blackrock do as expected and overcome Newcestown, then the Barrs are out of the county championship with a round of group action still to run. Unfathomable.
The levels of disbelief rise when you consider the Barrs held numerical advantage for the final half hour of this thoroughly enjoyable group contest. Two minutes into the second period, Fr O’Neill’s midfielder Kevin O’Sullivan jabbed his hurley into Andrew Casey off the ball. The linesman spotted it. The referee was informed. Red card. Fr O’Neill’s reduced to 14.
Ben Cunningham, in the ensuing play, drove past Paudie McMahon and drove over from near the sideline. The Barrs one ahead both on the field and on the scoreboard.
Having held a 0-9 to 0-8 interval advantage, Fr O’Neills’ evening appeared to be heading from decent, to not good, to not good at all. A run-of-the-mill free was played short and sent wide. Another free presented itself. This time Declan Dalton went straight for the target. He missed. Then Joe Millerick struck wide. It felt like their challenge was crumpling.
To their eternal credit, the 14-men in red and green steadied themselves and clung tight to this contest.
A pair of Dalton frees returned them in front on 42 minutes. The ever threatening and ever moving William Buckley levelled for the blues.
Another Fr O’Neill’s pair, this time from Dalton (free) and an outstanding McMahon effort, pushed the 14 men from Ladysbridge and Ballymacoda two in front, 0-13 to 0-11, entering the final quarter.
The Barrs, minus the injured Ethan Twomey, Conor Cahalane, and Billy Hennessy, lacked urgency and lacked on-field leadership. Nobody took charge and took control. It was impossible to make out where their numerical advantage lay.
And yet still they led by the minimum, 0-15 to 0-14, six minutes from home. That lead stemmed from a Ben Cunningham pair either side of Buckley’s fourth from play. They’d not score again, though. Cunningham sent wide a free in front of the posts. Sub Jack O’Kelly flashed wide an equalising goal opportunity in injury-time. It was their 10th wide of the second period.
The Barrs' three-point deficit at this late juncture owed to an unanswered burst of four Fr O’Neill’s points from the 55th minute to the hour mark. Each one as booming and brilliant as the next.
Step forward and step up Declan Dalton. Three of the four were his. Two were converted placed balls. The first for a foul on full-back Ger Millerick, the second for Damien Cahalane charging. In among those flurry of white flags from the fiery half-forward was a supreme Joe Millerick strike.
Their supporters streamed onto the field afterwards and stayed as long as they saw fit. Backs were broken from all the slapping. Events in Coachford on Sunday are not as imperative to them as the fallen Barrs. Irrespective of the outcome of Blackrock and Newcestown, Fr O’Neill’s stand in control of their own fate. They stand on the cusp of a first ever top-tier quarter-final appearance.
Fr O’Neill’s led at half-time by the minimum. It should have been significantly more. It wasn’t that they hadn’t used the wind at their back. It was that their radar was out. Sitting beside their nine white flags were nine wides. There was also a Cillian Broderick goal effort that struck the post.
They were more than in this game, and yet they knew they should have been more in front when turning to face the elements.
A four-in-a-row from the young trio of William Buckley, Jack Cahalane and Ben Cunningham had the Barrs 0-6 to 0-2 in front by the 11th minute. It was a start they couldn’t have asked more from. But they’d raise only one further white flag in the ensuing 17 minutes.
Fr O’Neill’s came good and came strong, if not always accurate. A four-in-a-row from Dunne, Dalton (sideline and free), and Jason Hankard put them in front for only the second time, 0-8 to 0-7, on 25 minutes.
They had the opportunities to drive further on. Instead, Kevin O’Sullivan, who opened their account in the fifth second, and Dunne drove wide. Dalton then dropped an effort short.
With the wind and against the Barrs, these were chances that simply had to be taken.
Jack Cahalane’s third levelled matters on 28 minutes. It was the Barrs’ first score in 14 minutes. A foul on the aerially strong Hankard enabled Dalton push the East Cork men back in front at the break.
Against all odds, they were still in front at the finish.
D Dalton (0-11, 0-9 frees, 0-1 sideline); K O’Sullivan, B Dunne (0-2 each); P McMahon, J Millerick, J Hankard (0-1 each).
B Cunningham (0-8, 0-5 frees); W Buckley (0-4); J Cahalane (0-3, 0-1 free).
P O’Sullivan; G Millerick, E Motherway, M Millerick; C O’Connor, D Harrington, M O’Keeffe; K O’Sullivan, Joe Millerick; P McMahon, D Dalton, J Hankard; C Broderick, B Dunne, John Millerick.
R Cullinane for Motherway (53, inj).
S Hurley; C Crowley, C Walsh, C Doolan; E Keane, J Burns, D Cahalane; J Wigginton-Barrett, A Casey; B Cunningham, S Cunningham, J Cahalane; W Buckley, P Buggy, B Hayes.
C O’Connor for B Cunningham (8-10, temporary); J O’Kelly for Crowley (53).
D Copps (Midleton).
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