St Finbarr’s Cork County Minor Football Champions 1968. Back: Jim Hegarty, Mick Bohane, Sean McCarthy, Michael McCarthy, Eamon Fitzpatrick, Pat McMahon, Finbarr Twomey, John Cotter, Colm Sisk, Seamus McCarty, Denis Burns,Denis Harrington. Front; D O’Leary, D Healy, Gerry Beckett, Seamus Looney, Bertie O’Brien, Barry Murphy, Fergus Cronin, Tony Butler.
The County Minor Football Championship changed hands in Mallow in October 1968 when the holders for the previous two years St Dominic’s (Glanworth) were decisively beaten by St
Finbarr’s who included six of the Cork All-Ireland winners in their team.
The springboard for the winning team was provided by a magnificent half back line of John Cotter, Seamus Looney and Sean McCarthy. All-Ireland medalists Cotter and Looney were excellent, but even they were outshone by McCarthy whose speed and ball control on the left wing was a joy to watch.
With Looney’s solid resistance in the centre and Cotter’s clever positional play, an almost insurmountable barrier was created for the Glanworth attack.
The score was just one point each at the end of the first quarter, but a great goal from Pat McMahon in the 17th minute set the Barrs attacking machinery smoothly in motion and it moved merrily until the final whistle.
It was a tough rather than spectacular game as a 13 score match 4- 5 to 2-2 might suggest. Very interesting match-ups were the direct confrontations between inter county mid fielders Donal Aherne (Glanworth) and Barry Murphy and Jerry Coleman’s battle with the Barrs roving centre forward Finbarr Twomey.
Barr’s scorers were Pat McMahon 2-0, Jerry Beckett 1-3, E Fitzpatrick 1-1 and Jim Hegarty.
Join Éamonn Murphy, Denis Hurley and Barry O'Mahony on the new season of The Echo Sport Podcast where they'll be analysing The Cork Club Championships.
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