Cork SHC final: Sarsfields 2-18 Midleton 1-14
County finals are never for the gratification of neutrals. It’s none of your business. Cork county finals have lacked pizzaz in recent years and this game was no threat to that trend, but Sars were good when they needed to be and there was never a moment when they looked in danger.
It was Sars’ second title in three years, and it capped an impressive recovery from their All-Ireland final loss in January. They’re not flashy or flamboyant and Jack O’Connor is the only one of their number who gets a look-in with Cork, but they’re smart and strong and athletic, and under the leadership of Johnny Crowley and Diarmuid O’Sullivan they have established themselves the pre-eminent club team in the county.
Before a ball was thrown in the odds were stacked heavily against Midleton. Conor Lehane, their most productive forward and a talismanic figure in their team, injured his Achilles in the semi-final and watched the game from the sideline in a protective boot. Their outstanding full back Eoin Moloney suffered the same fate a fortnight ago and any club team would struggle to replace those players.
Mikey Finn didn’t miss a free in Lehane’s absence, but they didn’t have anybody else to deliver the kind of galvanising scores and clutch plays that Lehane has routinely delivered in a Midleton jersey over the years.
RM Block
O’Connor performed that role for Sars. He finished the game with five points from play, three of them in a 10-minute spell in the final quarter when Midleton had their tails up and Sars’ nerves needed soothing. O’Connor has failed to nail down a starting spot with Cork during half a dozen seasons on the panel, but his form for Sars perennially puts him in the picture. It will be fascinating to see what the new Cork manager thinks.
Sars haven’t lost a game in Cork since the third round of the league at the beginning of April and there has been an air of dominance about their performances all year. They have had to do without Cathal McCarthy, a Cork panellist who suffered a serious knee injury during the championship, and Aaron Myers, their top scorer in recent seasons, who emigrated in the spring. But Sars unquestionably have the deepest panel in Cork and they carried on regardless.
Sars led by six points at the break, but if they had been clinical they would have been out of sight. Some of their seven wides were high percentage shots, and with a bit more care they could have added two goals to the one they got. Their half-time lead was a crude approximation of their dominance.
Midleton struggled desperately to create shooting opportunities and their first score after 11 minutes was a glorious freak. The Sars centre back Luke Elliott made a towering catch in a thicket of bodies, but as he struggled to get the ball away his short pass was intercepted.
The Sars goalie Ben Graham, though, had left his goal to make himself available for a pass and when the ball landed in the hand of Evan McGrath the Midleton man shot into an empty net from 20 metres.
That put Midleton in front for the only time in the game but their lead lasted less than two minutes. Sars dominated the middle third and in the first half they controlled the puck-outs on both sides of the ball. The ageless Daniel Kearney was outstanding in the opening 20 minutes and Sars had no difficulty creating shooting chances.
Colm McCarthy finished the game as top scorer with eight points, seven of them from frees. But he was also guilty of six misses and that lack of efficiency dogged Sars, especially in the first half.
They butchered a two-on-one overlap late in the first half when McCarthy elected to shoot rather than play a pass to the unmarked James Sweeney, and they had another goal chance minutes later when O’Connor latched on to a long delivery inside the Midleton full-back line only for his one-handed shot to drift wide.
Ultimately, though, Sweeney found the net twice. His first goal came at the end of a lovely move and a sweet pass from the excellent Cian Darcy; his second came in stoppage time at the end of the game when he outmuscled his marker under a long clearance from Craig Leahy and he finished cutely, just inside the far post.
Midleton needed a fast start to the second half but they had fallen eight points behind before they raised a gallop. When Pa White scored a terrific point from near the sideline with 12 minutes left they reduced the deficit to four points, but O’Connor was the most influential player on the field in the time that remained and that was the difference.
SARSFIELDS: B Graham; C O’Sullivan, C Roche, D English; B Murphy (0-1), L Elliott, C Leahy; D Kearney, K Murphy (0-1); C Darcy, J O’Connor (0-5), D Hogan (0-1); B O’Flynn (0-1), J Sweeney (2-0), C McCarthy (0-8, 7f).
Subs: S O’Regan (0-1) for McCarthy (53 mins); B Nodwell for O’Flynn (57); E Murphy for Elliott (60).
MIDLETON: B Saunderson (0-1, f); S Smyth, L Dineen, C Smyth; R O’Regan, T O’Connell, T O’Leary Hayes; C Walsh (0-1); M Finn (0-7, 5f, 1 65); A Quirke, C Beausang (0-2), K McDermott (0-2, 1 65); P White (0-1), D Cremin, E McGrath (1-0).
Subs: L O’Farrell for Cremin (42 mins); P Connaughton for O’Regan (45); S O’Meara for Walsh (49); K Burke for O’Meara (57); P Haughney for White (60).
Referee: Colm Lyons (Cork).
