Sarsfields end nine-year drought to beat Midleton to the Cork hurling title

Cork SHC final: Sarsfields 0-21 Midleton 0-19

The pitch invasion was delayed by a little red tape and a tissue of stewarding, but soon there was a happy mob in front of the South Stand, blue smoke billowing from a couple of smuggled flares. For Sars, one of the biggest clubs in Cork, it had been a long, sore, perplexing wait: nine years since their last title, eight years since they had even contested a final. Resolved now.

In the final quarter all of that hoarded frustration exploded in Midleton’s faces. Trailing by six points as the first half ticked into stoppage time, Sars didn’t lead until the 51st minute, but by then the tide had turned. The champion’s aggression had spiked and their tackling swamped Midleton.

When the dust settles Midleton will feel they let a massive opportunity slip. A four-point lead didn’t reflect their first half superiority, and immediately after half-time they missed a succession of chances to establish some separation on the scoreboard. Instead, Sars seized their reprieve, and in a hectic eight-minute spell they out-scored Midleton by 0-6 to 0-1. All bets were off.

The game was another triumph for Cathal McCarthy. Wearing number two, he started in the full-back line, but soon drifted further afield and effectively spent the second half as a plus one in the middle third. In Sars’ semi-final victory over Imokilly, McCarthy racked up a sensational haul of five points in extra-time alone; for his encore yesterday he managed four points, all of them sweet strikes from distance.

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McCarthy broke into the team before the championship while Conor O’Sullivan – the Sars captain and former Cork player – recovered from a serious groin injury. When O’Sullivan was available again he couldn’t dislodge McCarthy, and having come on as a sub in five of Sars’ games, O’Sullivan’s first start of the championship was in yesterday’s final.

“Cathal has been the best hurler in the championship, I think by far,” said O’Sullivan. “He got five points the last day, man of the match today. When we were going bad he was unbelievable. I can’t tell you how thankful we are to have a player like him.

“I had a bad injury and it was probably the best thing that ever happened because it meant Cathal coming into the team and I couldn’t get back in until unfortunately Killian Murphy had his cruciate – who was brilliant all year as well. It was tough for me but probably the right thing for the team. Cathal’s personality comes out onto the pitch and that sense of freedom.”

The breeze favoured Midleton in the first half but there wasn’t much to be gained from it. They started brightly and gradually asserted an element of control. Tommy O’Connell was a dynamic screen in front of his full-back line, Midleton had an edge in the middle third, and with such a variety of threats in their attack, they prospered from a steady flow of ball.

The last time these teams met in a county final, 10 years ago, Conor Lehane scored 2-10 and when he hit the target with his first possession after 37 seconds Sars’ hearts must have been in their mouths. He didn’t really get going until Midleton pushed him into the full-forward line in the second quarter, but then he rattled off four points, three in as many minutes, and Midleton quickly built a six-point lead.

Ross O’Regan hit three lovely scores too and Patrick White chipped in with one; Mikey Finn, who had been the outstanding midfielder in the first half, landed two points, including a beauty from a sideline cut, and when Midleton were flowing their scores came easily.

In the second half all of that changed. O’Sullivan and Daniel Kearney, another former Cork player, are the creative hub of the team and when Sars finally got some traction with their passing game, that pair were at the heart of it.

Jack O’Connor brought the teams level for the fifth time after 43 minutes, and Sars had to find two more equalisers in the next half a dozen minutes, both of them from McCarthy.

The scores to put them ahead came from Aaron Myers, who must have run McCarthy close for the man-of-the-match award. When Sars were treading water in the first half, he hit six of their nine points, three of them from play, and he finished the game with a handsome tally of 12.

For Sars, it was a hugely significant victory. On their run to the final, and on the day, they had beaten all the recent winners of the title, and their reputation as a team that was liable to fold has been emphatically rebutted. They looked dead and buried against Imokilly in the semi-final, and as O’Sullivan said afterwards, they had suffered a run of timid exits from the championship.

“The last time we died with our boots on was 2017,” he said, and that sequence had become corrosive. This year they topped their group in the round-robin phase and surfed that momentum. They had become hard to beat again.

Midleton lay siege to their goal in the closing minutes yesterday, and in one extraordinary attack they forced a three-on-one overlap. Luke O’Farrell let rip and the Sars corner-back Paul Leopold put his body in the path of the bullet. That was the stuff of their championship.

Sarsfields: D McCarthy; C McCarthy (0-4), C Leahy, P Leopold; B Murphy, E Murphy, L Elliott; C O’Sullivan, D Kearney (0-1); D Hogan (0-1), S O’Regan, C Darcy; J O’Connor (0-2), Colm McCarthy (0-1), A Myers (0-12, eight frees).

Subs: L Hackett for O’Regan (43 mins), James Sweeney for Darcy (49 mins), B Nodwell for Hogan (53 mins).

Midleton: B Saunderson; S O’Sullivan (0-1), C Smyth, S Smyth; E Moloney, T O’Connell (0-1), S O’Leary Hayes; M Finn (0-2, 0-1 sideline), P Haughney (0-2); R O’Regan (0-3), C Lehane (0-7, five frees), D Cremin; C Beausang (0-1), P White (0-1), L O’Farrell.

Subs: P Connaughton for Cremin (45 mins), Tadhg O’Leary Hayes (0-1) for White (60 mins).

Referee: C O’Regan (Ballyhea).