Munster Club SFC final: Dingle (Kerry) 1-18 St Finbarr’s (Cork) 0-20
With 63:44 frozen on the giant scoreboard, a spectacular Munster final had reached a stunning conclusion. From the 45-metre line at the Town End, Conor Geaney kicked a two-point free to put Dingle in front for the first time in nearly an hour with no time left for a restart. It was the gunslinger’s imperative from the old westerns: one shot, live or die.
If it was a boxing match, Dingle would have trailed on every judge’s scorecard, but as the clock wore down they gave themselves a puncher’s chance. St Finbarr’s carried the dregs of a seven-point lead into stoppage time, and though they controlled the ball, they spoiled two chances to extend their advantage.
It didn’t seem to matter when St Finbarr’s forced another turnover inside their own half in the final minute of stoppage time and worked the ball to Ian Maguire in front of the Old Stand. The Cork centrefielder seemed to be dragged to the ground but instead was penalised for overcarrying, one of those shadowy calls that can go either way in the modern game.
The referee’s next call, though, was pivotal to the outcome. A Barrs’ player picked up the ball and was handing it back when a Dingle player came in from behind and punched it away. The referee Chris Maguire adjudged that the Barrs’ player had been delaying the taking of the free and he advanced the free 50 metres, bringing it into scoring range. By putting his hands on the ball, though, the Barr’s player had invited the referee to make a call, good or bad.
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Only a few weeks after winning their first Kerry title in 77 years, it was an extraordinary triumph for Dingle. Two years ago, they lost a Munster final on penalties to Castlehaven, having never trailed in the match. This time, it was almost the reverse.
Twice in the second half the Barr’s stretched their lead to seven points, and even though Dingle were playing with the breeze, they were struggling to turn the tide. Ultimately, though, the Barr’s couldn’t put the game out of Dingle’s reach. After the outstanding Brian Hayes put them 0-20 to 1-12 in front with 11 minutes of normal time remaining they failed to score again.
“It’s the best day in the club’s history,” said Conor Geaney, kicker of the winning score. “We had the best day about three weeks ago and now we have the best day ever. I’ll have to watch it back but I don’t know did we play that well. We just grinded it out.
“Two years ago [Munster final loss] was the worst day for the club. It was the worst feeling I ever had on the pitch. To get another crack at it and get over the line this time. Maybe we just snuck it at the end.”
Dingle made a bright start and were 0-3 to 0-1 in front after just four minutes. The Barrs drew level, though, with Steven Sherlock’s first two-pointer and took the lead three minutes later with Sherlock’s second.
For the rest of the half the Barrs captain tormented the Kerry champions with a panoply of shots from distance. By half-time he had kicked five two-pointers, three of them from frees. His only attempt that dropped short resulted in a point for Hayes as Gavin Curran in the Dingle goal was forced to punch it away from crossbar height.
The Barr’s played with the aid of a breeze in the first half, but on a cold day and on a spongy surface, the purity of Sherlock’s striking was staggering. A couple of his long range attempts were with the outside of his boot as opposed to the instep, but that was immaterial to the execution of the shot.
He finished the game with 16 points, 12 of them from two-pointers. The best of the bunch came early in the second half, when he landed a free from the tiny peninsula of ground between the sideline and the two-point arc, in front of the Old Stand.
That score put the Barr’s 0-17 to 1-8 in front, extending the five-point lead they had carried into the break. Paul Geaney’s terrific first-half goal had kept Dingle in touch but it was his cousin Dylan who dragged the Kerry champions back into the game.
He kicked a couple of vanilla points just after half time and a two pointer at the end of the third quarter. He next two pointer in the 60th minute left just the bare minimum between the teams and every outcome was suddenly on the table.
The Barr’s controlled possession for most of stoppage time, but they kicked a wide with 30 seconds left when it might have been better to hold the ball and kill the clock. Easy to say now.
St Finbarr’s: D Newman, B Hennessy, A O’Connor, S Ryan, E Dennehy, C Doolan, C Dennehy, B Hayes (0-0-2), W Buckley, E Twomey, I Maguire, L Hannigan (0-0-1), S Sherlock (0-6-4, 0-4 2pf, 0-1f) R Barrett, J Wigginton-Barrett (0-0-1). Subs: E McGreevy for R Barrett 42 mins; D Quinn for Twomey 54 mins; N Murray for Wigginton-Barrett 54 mins
Dingle: G Curran, B O’Connor, Tom Leo O’Sullivan, Tom O’Sullivan (0-0-2), A O’Connor, C Flannery, P O’Connor, M O’Connor (0-0-1), B O’Connor, T Browne, P Geaney (1-0-2, 1f), D Geaney (0-2-5, 0-2f), C Geaney (0-1-2, 0-1 2pf, 0-1f), M Flaherty, N Geaney. Subs: N Ryan for B O’Connor 42 mins; M Geaney for Browne 48 mins; C Bambury for Flaherty 60 mins
Referee: Chris Maguire (Clare)
