Cork IAHC: Bandon leave it late to beat Sars and book first decider in nine years
Bandon will play Aghabullogue in the Cork Intermediate A Hurling Championship final. Pic: Dan Linehan
It’s a long road that has no turning, an old maxim that Bandon GAA should be well acquainted with. After a period in the doldrums in both codes the club’s hurlers are now 60 minutes from promotion back to Cork’s third tier after this hard won passage to the IAHC final.
It was a contest of little real quality but plenty of drama in Riverstick on Saturday evening but a bold and battling Bandon outfit have booked their place in a final for the first time since 2016.
Up against Sarsfield’s second string - and playing against the wind in a difficult first half - Bandon prevailed thanks to late scores from talisman Michael Cahalane and sub Conor Calnan.
Bandon will find themselves underdogs once more as they play Aghabullogue in the final in a fortnight’s time but they’ll go into it with plenty of confidence after this spirit-lifting triumph.
With the advantage of a gust at their backs, Sars started the stronger, Kevin Crowley putting the first score on the board from distance after four minutes.
Michael Cahalane responded with a nearly identical action and floated over his second from a free soon after.
Daragh Long made it two apiece on ten minutes. In an unforced error, oft-reliable Sars marksman Rory O’Brien failed to put it over the bar from just 20 metres to take an early advantage.
A barren spell in the middle of the first period saw both sides rack up wides but two points from O’Brien - one from a 65, the other from a free - got the Sarsfield steam train chugging again with ten to go in the first period.
Mark Sugrue and Jack Cullinane pulled two back for Bandon, their first set of scores in 16 minutes - Cullinane gracefully sent one over off his left side, with Sugrue doing similarly off his right under pressure.
Down the other end, Bandon keeper Pat Barry did what needed to be done when Luke Hackett smashed one goalward, stretching to make a point blank save and clear the damage.
Hackett would place one between the posts, though, just before the interval to give the Glanmire gang some breathing space.
They may have gone in two points to the good at the short whistle but, with the wind at their backs, Sars will have been disappointed to clock up 10 wides in a first half where they played most of the hurling. It would come back to haunt them.
The second half saw Bandon’s Sean Carey test Donnacha McCarthy out of the gate, his powerful effort from a tight angle drawing a save from the Sars keeper.
Half way through the second half and there was yet to be a score on the board from either side. Bandon’s wayward shooting was doing them no favours, while Sars simply couldn’t get any shots off with the stiff breeze in their faces.
On 50 minutes, Sars’ Kevin Crowley thought he had put it right over the black mark, but to his and the spectators’ surprise the ball landed just short, forcing Barry to slap it away from the goalmouth as it climbed down from a height.
The longer the drought dragged on - ultimately 22 minutes - the more frustrated both sets of players and coaches became but that coveted point eventually came courtesy of Bandon’s Michael Cahalane from a 65.
Cahalane struck again to level it with seven minutes left on the clock. It was anyone’s game at this point.
Finally some quality was injected into the contest. Sam McNamara would turn things around for Sars, pucking over with composure to put them into the lead once again.
Cahalane saw another effort slip just wide and Jack Cullinane’s effort was blocked brilliantly by John Leddy but in the next sequence of play Darren Crowley pointed to make it seven a piece.
A desperate goalmouth scramble almost produced a Bandon green flag but referee Aidan Hyland intervened. Jack Cullinane would remain calm under pressure to score a vital eighth for the Bandon men but Luke Hackett cancelled it out seconds later with a towering effort off his right.
On the hour mark, with three minutes of added time left to play, Sars were done for overcarrying, a vital mistake when you have someone with the dead ball skills of Cahalane on the opposition team.
Predictably, Cahalane drilled it over and sub Conor Calnan would seal the deal with a score of his own with 90 seconds remaining.
M Cahalane 0-5 (3f, 1 65), J Cullinane 0-2, C Calnan, D Crowley, M Sugrue 0-1 each.
R O’Brien 0-2 (1f 1 65), L Hackett 0-2, K Crowley, D Long, A Hackett, S McNamara 0-1 each.
P Barry; N McCarthy, T Twohig, E Twomey; C Lynch, P Murphy, D O’Donovan; M Cahalane, C Long; D Crowley, M Sugrue, C Calnan; J Cullinane, S Carey, E McSweeney.
P Calnan for N McCarthy (22), C McCarthy for C Long (43), R Fogarty for M Sugrue (43).
D McCarthy; K Walsh, D Roche, J Huggins; J Leddy, K Crowley, J Leahy; S McNamara, J O’Leary; C McCarthy, A Hackett, D Long; S King, L Hackett, R O’Brien.
S Bracken for C McCarthy (36), C O’Rourke for R O’Brien (50), C Austin for A Hackett (60).
A Hyland.
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