Grief and glory as Imokilly weather storm to reclaim Cork crown

There was lots of emotion at the final whistle as the divisional side dethroned Sars.

Mon, 21 Oct, 2024 - 07:12

Eoghan Cormican, Pairc Ui Chaoimh

Cork Premier SHC final: Imokilly 1-23 Sarsfields 0-17

Such was the lack of atmosphere and lack of winning support, grief had no hiding place. It stood very much at the front of Imokilly’s latest success.

At the final whistle, Darragh O’Brien set off hobbling and limping in the direction of his brother Ciarán. A knee injury hurling for St Ita’s in last weekend’s East Cork junior semi-final took him out of the equation for this Premier Senior county final and severely reduced the speed at which he could reach his brother and now county-winning captain.

Although stood close to the far North Stand side, it was clear even from that distance away how emotional Ciarán was. When Darragh and his knee support eventually reached him, the brothers engaged in a lengthy embrace.

Next over to the O’Brien brothers was their St Ita’s teammate Seamus Harnedy. He too shared a long embrace with them. The emotion spilled was for the O’Brien’s late mother, Caroline, who passed away at the end of May.

Even when representing a sprawling East Cork division, it still all comes back to club and to family.

As they made their way across to the presentation area, St Ita’s locals stood on the bottom row of the South Stand called out to Ciarán. They, no more than Harnedy, wanted to console and congratulate.

O’Brien was part of an Imokilly full-back line singled out by many beforehand as the one area where Sars could target and profit. What happened instead was that Sars didn’t create a single clear-cut goal chance across the hour.

There were two half openings in the second period, one of which was thwarted by a thumping Timmy Wilk shoulder on Aaron Myers. Sars inside forward Shane O’Regan, who had been so prominent and potent in the earlier rounds, did not reappear for the second period.

Having lost the one line they were expected to conquer and having failed to adequately capitalise on the gale behind them in the opening half, Sars’ back-to-back ambitions were gone with the wind by half-time. In this storm, a six-point lead was as useful as a pound shop brolly.

A five-in-a-row from Daniel Hogan, Jack O’Connor, Paul Leopold, and Daniel Kearney approaching half-time to shove them 0-11 to 0-3 clear was the champions we have come to know over the past two seasons.

Problem was there weren't enough such passages. Problem was there were far too many first half wides. 12 misses from 10 different players. 12 misses outnumbering 11 white flags.

In first-half stoppages, Kearney won a free off John Cronin. It gave Johnny Crowley’s charges the opportunity to turn around eight in front. Instead, a Sars player came in late on Cronin, the free was downgraded to a throw ball, and the play finished with Sean Desmond pointing to leave Imokilly only 0-11 to 0-5 behind.

That six-point interval difference greatly vindicated the decision of O’Brien to play against the gale when winning the toss.

Although there's no getting away from the spectacle as a whole being ruined by the elements, we’ll not mention them again. It would be unfair to reduce Imokilly’s second-half winning effort to such.

In the opening half, nothing went Seamus Harnedy’s way. At one point, he let a straightforward pass from Cronin fall out of his hand and over the sideline. He was blocked down at another juncture.

He roared into this final upon the restart. He was his familiar bustling self. His back-to-back points brought Imokilly within the minimum on 39 minutes.

Before that, Imokilly roasted Sars on the short restart. Bill Cooper turned over Daniel Kearney on 33 minutes. Cooper then fed Adam Murphy and he goaled. Diarmuid Healy latched onto another short restart and threw over.

It must have been incredibly deflating for the champions to see so quickly their first-half lead unwound. They fell behind for the first time on 42 minutes. Their response, albeit short-lived, was not at all surprising.

Daniel Hogan and Jack O’Connor returned them in front. Aaron Myers would again do so entering the final quarter. 0-16 to 1-12.

Then arrived a second Imokilly burst. Ten-in-a-row between the 49th and 61st minute to go from one behind to nine in front. 1-22 to 0-16. Midfielder Shane Hegarty, corner-forward Leahy, his inside colleague Desmond, goalkeeper Eoin Davis, subs Barry Lawton and Mike Kelly all contributed.

No back-to-back for Sars. The same as the group that won four county titles between 2008-14, successfully retaining the Seán Óg Murphy Cup has proven beyond them.

For Imokilly, a five-year gap bridged to the most recent of their now six county titles.

“People are saying all year, ye’re only a division, but literally tonight when we’re going out we’re like a club, we all get on very well,” said centre-back Ciarán Joyce, comfortably Imokilly’s outstanding performer.

There was certainly a club-feel to the final whistle scenes. Grief and glory wrapped together.

Scorers for Imokilly: J Leahy (0-11, 0-7 frees, 0-1 ‘65); S Hegarty, S Desmond (0-3 each); A Murphy (1-0); S Harnedy (0-2); E Davis (0-1 free), D Healy, M Kelly, Barry Lawton (0-1 each).

Scorers for Sars: D Hogan (0-5, 0-2 frees); J O’Connor (0-3); A Myers (0-2); P Leopold, C O’Sullivan, B Murphy, C Darcy, D Kearney, Cathal McCarthy, Colm McCarthy (0-1 each).

IMOKILLY: E Davis (St Catherine’s); T Wilk (Cobh), M Russell (Aghada), C O’Brien (St Ita’s); C Joyce (Castlemartyr), D O’Leary (Watergrasshill), J Cronin (Lisgoold); S Hegarty (Dungourney), B Cooper (Youghal); Brian Lawton (Castlemartyr), D Healy (Lisgoold), S Harnedy (St Ita’s); A Murphy (Watergrasshill), S Desmond (Watergrasshill), J Leahy (Dungourney).

SUBS: K O’Neill (Watergrasshill) for Russell (36); M Kelly (Castlemartyr) for Murphy (47); Barry Lawton (Castlemartyr) for Healy (51); W Leahy (Aghada) for Desmond (63).

SARS: D McCarthy; P Leopold, C Leahy, C O’Sullivan; L Elliott, E Murphy, B Murphy; C Darcy, D Kearney; J O’Connor, D Hogan, A Myers; S O’Regan, J Sweeney, C McCarthy.

SUBS: C McCarthy for S O’Regan (HT); L Healy for Sweeney (39); K Murphy for Kearney (52).

REFEREE: S Scanlon.