AIB All-Ireland club SHC final: Na Fianna (Dublin) v Sarsfields (Cork), Croke Park, 1.30 – Live on TG4
Like the football final, this brings together two clubs who wouldn’t have started their campaigns automatically focusing on the All-Ireland. Sarsfields appeared to be going the way of other recent Cork representatives when getting a wild-card entry to Munster, having been well beaten in the county final by divisional side Imokilly.
With time nearly up in the Dublin final, Na Fianna’s Ciarán Stacey contrived a goal from a pinballing sliotar to overturn Kilmacud on a scoreboard that hadn’t favoured them since the third minute.
In the All-Ireland semi-final before Christmas, they looked down and out by half-time but, accommodated by Loughrea’s loss of altitude, incrementally came back into contention and duly found another knock-out score deep in added time.
Sarsfields had their own arm-wrestle the same afternoon and came alarmingly close to conceding a killer goal at the very end against Slaughtneil. Both teams put in season’s-best displays in their respective provincial finals. Pride of place goes to Sarsfields, who – despite the unpromising history – focused on Munster, changing their goalkeeper and centre back for the campaign. It paid off when they interrupted Ballygunner’s four-in-a-row attempt with a fiery and irrepressible performance. For their part, Na Fianna were attempting to become only the third Dublin team to win Leinster.
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The Stacey-AJ Murphy combination that won the All-Ireland semi-final effectively did the same in the provincial final when engineering the goal that strangled Kilcormac’s comeback at birth. Colin Currie has been a reliable free taker and Dónal Burke, for all that his inputs have been inconsistent and likely injury-related, was electric in the Leinster final. And if he plays well, they are rarely beaten.
Sars have, however, tamed an attack as free-scoring as Ballygunner’s. Conor O’Sullivan did a fine marking job on Dessie Hutchinson and Bryan Murphy has been strong at wing back. Cathal McCarthy has been in excellent form and, in tandem with Aaron Myers, laid down a marker in the first provincial match against Feakle. The performance against Slaughtneil was disappointing and partly attributable to a comedown from the Munster final, but the Derry champions had strong and sometimes overlooked credentials.
There are opportunities for both teams in this. Will Na Fianna’s defence be as easily pulled out of shape, as it was against Loughrea, or impressively integrated, as it has been on other occasions, for instance against St Martin’s?
Can Sarsfields’ middle third build a decisive platform as they did in the Munster final, or does it more resemble the rickety structure of the last day?
Either can be picked or chosen but Na Fianna’s body of work is more established and, despite all the scrapes, their performances more even.
Verdict: Na Fianna
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