St Finbarr’s win Cork senior hurling championship for first time in 29 years

St Finbarr’s 2-14

Blackrock 1-7

In a downpour that would have tested Noah’s nerve, St Finbarr’s won the Cork senior hurling championship for the first time in 29 years at Pairc Ui Chaoimh on Sunday , stopping the clock on the most harrowing period in their long, illustrious history. A young, dashing, dynamic team produced their best performance of the season in conditions that should have been anathema to their smooth-passing, hard-running game. Without compromise, they stuck to the plan.

In the process they produced a spectacular second half against the odds and against the elements. Having played with a howling wind the Barr’s led by just a point at the break, but they overwhelmed their great city rivals in the second half, reducing them to just two points and a late flurry of spiked goal attempts.

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It was a momentous breakthrough for a club that had flirted with relegation just two years ago, and hadn’t even reached a county final since their last title in 1993. In recent seasons their footballers had flown the blue flag, and they will defend their county title against Nemo Rangers at the end of the month, with a cluster of the hurlers on that panel too. No club has won the double in Cork since the Barr’s did it 40 years ago.

In the conditions it was a small wonder that the game was played, and it was a minor miracle that it finished. Rain and wind battered Cork from lunchtime, but it poured down with such ferocity in the closing 15 minutes of the match that Pairc Ui Chaoimh was littered with pools of standing water and it was hard to tell if the tide was coming or going.

Players struggled with their footing and their striking, and there were a few flare-ups in the last 10 minutes, when the conditions shortened everyone’s temper and mistimed tackles were inevitable. In the circumstances the referee Simon Stokes handled the game with just the right amount of strictness and understanding.

The Barr’s manager Ger Cunningham was in goal when they last won the title, and his teenage son Ben was man of the match yesterday, having given an exhibition of long range striking, both from play and dead balls. In the conditions his ball control and accuracy were exquisite.

“Fair play, to him, he was fantastic (Ben),” said Ger. “He had a great game, as did many others. I thought it was a magnificent team performance. It means everything. We’ve had some tough times over the years. To manage a team with massive, massive support from a great backroom team and to have two sons and a nephew and cousins involved in the team, it does make it extra special.

“We’ve been away from this scene for a long time and it’s fantastic to see both the young kids, a new generation of Barr’s supporters, and the older lads – some players who I’d have played with myself – absolutely roaring crying, as it means so much to them.”

The champions trailed for no more than a minute in the match, when they wobbled for a short period in the middle of the first half. Mark O’Keeffe capitalised on open spaces in the Barr’s defence, to send a low shot squirming under the body of Shane Hurley and into the net, and directly from the puck-out Michael O’Halloran picked off a point to put Blackrock in front.

But that little spell was against the run of play, and once the Barr’s got their bearings again they rattled off three points without reply. Their young centre field pairing of Ethan Twomey and the schools rugby international Ben O’Connor were dominant around the middle, full of energy and aggression and composure, both of them potential Cork seniors in the near future. Damien Cahalane held the defence together, and Blackrock’s inside line, that had been so potent on their run to the final, were never given a chance to breathe.

The Barr’s needed a powerful start to the second half and they produced a goal within two minutes. The explosive Conor Cahalane thundered through the Rockie’s defence and played a cool pass to Brian Hayes, who batted the ball to the net from the edge of the small square.

When Cahalane struck for the Barr’s second goal 12 minutes later the game was essentially put to bed. The Barr’s stitched together a series of short passes near the sideline, until the ball was shifted to Cahalane in space. He ran at the heart of the Blackrock defence, and on a day short on delicacy, he produced a feather-light finish, beating Gavin Connolly with a forehand lob. That put them 2-10 to 1-6 in front and on the run for home.

ST FiINBARR’S: S Hurley, J Burns, C Walsh, E Keane, G O’Connor (C Doolan 63 mins) , D Cahalane, B Hennessy, B O’Connor, E Twomey, P Buggy 0-2 (S Cunningham 60 mins), C Cahalane, 1-0, B Cunningham 0-9, 0-3 frees, 0-2 65, E Finn (W Buckley 0-2; 46 mins), B Hayes 1-1, J Cahalane (C Keane 62 mins)

BLACKROCK: G Connolly, C O’Brien, A O’Callaghan, S Murphy, C Cormack, J Cashman, N Cashman, D Meaney 0-1, K O’Keeffe, M O’Keeffe 1-0, T Deasy, M O’Halloran 0-1 (C Cormack 52 mins), R Cotter (J O’Sullivan 46 mins), A Connolly 0-3, 0-1 free, 0-1 65, S O’Keeffe 0-2 (D O’Farrell 54 mins)

Referee: Shane Stokes