Nobody wrote them off but Sars survived big build-up

Every conversation on the run into Sunday’s Cork hurling final concluded that Sars could not possibly come off second best.
Nobody wrote them off but Sars survived big build-up

Barry O'Flynn of Sarsfields celebrates at the final whistle during the Cork County Senior Club Hurling Championship final match between Sarsfields and Midleton at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork. Photo by Michael P Ryan/Sportsfile

A different sort of noise to submerge and ignore. In this year of the perceived underdog and every winning player clamouring to a microphone to rail against their writing off, Sars were covering ears last week to block out those building them up.

Every conversation on the run into Sunday’s Cork hurling final centred on monumental Midleton losses Eoin Moloney and Conor Lehane. Every conversation thus concluded that Sars could not possibly come off second best.

That can be a tricky position to find yourself in, especially if you let such pre-determined mood music enter the dressing-room.

“It's obviously something you can't ignore. Everyone is on social media and everyone can read the articles,” said Sars forward Jack O’Connor of the one-tone build-up.

“But in training, Johnny and the lads were very good. It wasn't even mentioned about the [Midlerton] injuries, we were just solely focused on ourselves, what we could do, and what we were going to bring to the table.

“It's probably a skill in itself to be able to ignore that noise on the outside. I thought we managed it well anyway.” 

They didn’t seek victory to confirm external expectation or that they could sit comfortably with said expectation. They sought victory to extend their time together.

“The main thing really is that we didn't want it to end here because we enjoy each other's company so much. We love going training together, so we really didn't want it to be our last day. That was probably the biggest relief, to be honest, that we've got another few weeks training together,” explained the 27-year-old half-forward.

The level this Sars group has elevated themselves to since responding to the 2024 county final defeat with Munster glory and progression to the All-Ireland final meant that even when not clinical on Sunday and even when nowhere near their ceiling, they were always comfortable.

A six-point interval lead in no way reflected their early dominance. Nine first-half wides and three goal openings not taken reflected both their superiority and squandering.

After a Midleton three-in-a-row to pare the margin to four entering the final 10 minutes, O’Connor stepped up in the same fashion he had in the semi-final and struck Sars’ next three points.

“We definitely like to make it hard on ourselves anyway with the way we performed. To be honest, it was getting a bit messy in the first half. I had a good few wides and I was thinking it might not be my day.

“I just kept at it, and when the chances came to me, I took them as well as I could. Thankfully, they went over then so I was delighted.” 

O’Connor’s 35-year-old teammate Daniel Kearney described Sunday as “surreal”. The midfielder was ever present on the Sars team that collected four local crowns between 2008-14. The contrast thereafter was sharp. From seven final appearances in eight years to seven years away from the concluding Sunday. Among those barren seven campaigns were five exits at the quarter-final juncture or earlier.

“You know, we were a long time away from the top table and I guess, when you get that purple patch again, you have to make sure you're making the most of it. We've done that over the last few years,” Kearney remarked.

The first purple patch he enjoyed in the company, amongst others, of Ray Ryan.

The departed Sars centre-back was ever-present on his mind in the days leading up to Sunday.

“To be honest, I found it very hard the last few days, just thinking of how Ray would have enjoyed these couple of days,” said Kearney, one of three clubmen, along with Conor O’Sullivan and Craig Leahy, now in possession of six county medals.

“He would have been at the centre of wishing you the best of luck, he would have sent everyone in the team a message. He would be the first fella to meet us down the club today, the first fella down there tomorrow.

“It is a bit bittersweet, there's no denying that. But look, I hope that we've honoured Ray and his family and did them all proud. We can just start now, thinking more about Ray – we didn't really talk about him all year, I guess, but we all knew in the back of our minds how important it was just to represent the jersey the way he would.

“I think we did that over the past couple of games, so we’re just so happy and we're going to really enjoy this one.” 

A collection of the latest sports news, reports and analysis from Cork.

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