St Finbarr's dig in to keep double dreams on track
MINDING THE HOUSE: St Finbarr's Thomas Egan is back covering as Clonakilty pile n the pressure late in Saturday's Cork Premier SFC semi-final at SuperValu Pairc Ui Chaoimh. Pic: Larry Cummins
TWO St Finbarr's semi-final victories, two goalkeepers to thank.
Just as the Barrs hurlers owed a debt of gratitude to Shane Hurley for getting them into next Sunday’s county final, their footballers were singing Darragh Newman’s praises for extending their title defence against Clonakilty.
The Togher stopper diverted a first-half Darragh Gough penalty onto the post before tipping a point-blank Seán White chance onto the crossbar in stoppage time. Four points separated the sides in that moment. For a finish, there was just two between them.
Two finals lie ahead, two city derbies. For the second time in five years, no less.
After the hurlers clash with Glen Rovers next weekend, the footballers face a rematch against Nemo Rangers on October 25th.
“It’s the 150-year anniversary of the club this year, so it's a massive milestone,” said selector Ian Keeler.
This semi-final under the Saturday night lights was led almost entirely by one side, yet dominated, statistically at least, by the other.
The Barrs took 21 shots and won. Clon launched 34 efforts and lost. Their conversion rate of 38% simply wasn’t enough.
Clon accrued as many misses as the Barrs had shots. Of those 21, they kicked 12 wides and left six more short.
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“It's terribly disappointing. A game we completely dominated everywhere except the scoreboard. That's the reality of it,” said Clon selector Eoin Ryan. “Our conversion rate was awful. We just didn't fire. We were unlucky. We hit the post, hit the crossbar. It just wasn't our night. We gave it everything we had.
“It's a tough one to take. You wouldn't mind being beaten if you were beaten by a better team, but I don't think we were, to be fair. Now, they were clinical. When they came up with the ball, they seemed to score. We missed a lot.”
The Barrs’ slant didn’t dwell on the misses so much as the defensive heat that forced them.
Keep in mind, this was a victory earned despite losing their full-back and centre-back, Alan O’Connor and Dylan Quinn, in the first half.
Keeler hailed long-serving defender Jamie Burns, who was introduced at half-time, for an “outstanding” shift among a resilient team effort.
“We were always able to come up and respond,” said Keeler. “When the need was greatest, we defended really well. Clon had a lot of shots, but we put them under a lot of pressure kicking. Our defensive work around the arc and man-to-man inside, the boys were outstanding.
“We didn't give up a goal, which is massive in a game like this. Shane made some outstanding saves here last week. It was Darragh tonight.
“When you're getting two goals and you don't concede any, it puts the other team under a lot of pressure. They have to kick six or seven points more than you.
“For our dual players, it's the sixth weekend in a row that they've played premier senior championship.
“It's a huge physical toll on them and credit to them again. Right at the end, Brian (Hayes) and William (Buckley) and Ciarán (Doolan) and Rickey (Barrett) and the lads, they're up and down the pitch defending.”
O’Connor and Quinn’s setbacks were categorised as “nothing major, just contact injuries. Hopefully they'll be fine.”
On the Clon side, Ryan questioned the legitimacy of the Barrs’ second goal. When Ian Maguire’s shot fell short, Mark White seemed to have a grip on the ball. Thomas Egan challenged him in the air and it spilled into the attacker’s hands for a tap-in goal.
“That goal was very debatable,” said Ryan. “Mark had the ball in his hands and your man came in and the ball finished up in the back of the net. That's very questionable. I don't know, I'd have to watch it back, but I thought it was a free out.
“We missed a penalty then. Whatever we did or didn't do, we had plenty of chances to win the game. We didn't take them. There was only two points in it at the end.”
Barrett and Egan’s first-half goals gave the Barrs their cushion. A four-point burst against the slackening wind reinforced their lead.
Maguire laid on their first point for Hayes before playing a one-two with his midfield partner to carve out the eighth-minute breakthrough. His pass allowed Barrett to palm home.
There were sumptuous moments of skill – a stunning Steven Sherlock two-point free, struck with the outside of his right boot from the South Stand sideline into the Blackrock End, and Ross Mannix’s pass for a Conor Daly response – otherwise, it was a poor opening half, enlivened by a couple of dramatic twists before the interval.
After Gough, part of an early double substitution, and Dara Ó Sé brought it back to a one-score game, Egan capitalised for his goal.
Clon almost profited from their own misdirected shot in stoppage time. Mannix drove in along the endline and was clipped by Fionn Crowley for a penalty. Newman was equal to Gough’s low strike; 2-5 to 0-6 at half-time.
Sherlock gave a measure of the dying wind by pumping over a 50-metre free off the ground. He was otherwise closely monitored by Dan Peet, allowing Cork corner-back Maurice Shanley to continue in his midfield berth.
A Gough orange flag had it back to a two-point difference, 2-7 to 0-11, with 20 minutes to play. Hayes led the way, twice splitting the posts amid a four-in-a-row response.
The Hurler of the Year nominee contributed 0-9 from play across the hurling and football semi-finals. Without those scores, the Barrs might have made neither decider.
Ó Sé and Daly nailed two-pointers down the stretch, with more Newman heroics in between, but Gough’s final attempt from beyond the arc fell short.
S Sherlock (0-6, 2tpf, 1 free); R Barrett (1-1); B Hayes (0-4); T Egan (1-0); C Dennehy (0-1).
C Daly (1tp), D Gough (1tp, 1 free) (0-5 each); D Ó Sé (0-3, 1tp); M White (45), C Kenneally, D Harrington (0-1 each).
D Newman; A O’Connor, S Ryan, C Scully; F Crowley, D Quinn, E Dennehy; I Maguire, B Hayes; T Egan, R Barrett, C Doolan; J Wigginton-Barrett, S Sherlock (capt), W Buckley.
: C Dennehy for O’Connor (24, inj), J Burns for Quinn (h-t, temp), L Hannigan for E Dennehy (43), C Myers-Murray for Wigginton-Barrett (56).
: M White (capt); D Darragh, D Peet, D Lowney; S White, T Clancy, J O’Mahony; B Ridgeway, M Shanley; D Kenneally, D Ó Sé, C Kenneally; S McEvoy, R Mannix, C Daly.
: D Gough for McEvoy (23), D Harrington for S White (23), K O’Driscoll for D Kenneally (49), S White for Ridgeway (56).
: C Lane (Banteer-Lyre).
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