The Barrs were in cruise control as Carrigtwohill failed to fire

St Finbarr’s 3-23 Carrigtwohill 0-8

THE final scoreline shows the gulf in class between these sides as St Finbarr’s cruised into the third round of the Cork SHC following an emphatic win over Carrigtwohill at Riverstown on Saturday.

Credit to the Barrs after a sluggish opening quarter they produced a wonderful brand of hurling that their opponents were unable to match.

How times have changed for Carrigtwohill since their first Senior county championship win in 2011 that ended a 93- year drought.

Fast forward eight years and the club are now on a rebuilding mission and with major work going on at juvenile level the aim will be to have a consistent flow of players progressing through the ranks.

The Barrs sprayed some fine passes together in the opening minutes but ironically it took an 80-yard free from goalkeeper Shane Hurley that opened their scoring in the second minute.

Hurley is a superb goalkeeper who reminds me of a Stephen Cluxton version of hurling in the manner he plays incredible assists to his teammates and his performance was superb from start to finish.

Robert O’Mahony is still a superb player and despite approaching his 38th birthday he has a better fitness level than players far younger playing in this championship.

In the opening five minutes, two superb saves by the Carrigtwohill keeper Shane Devlin kept their side in the game as O’Mahony and Damien Cahalane were denied certain goals.

The Barrs finally raised the opening green flag in the 15th minute when the outstanding Eoghan Finn found Colin Keane who billowed the back of the net with precision.

Carrigtwohill struggled throughout the first half as out of their tally of four points only one came from play courtesy of a stunning Jay Horgan strike from centre field.

The Barrs basically ran riot and when Conor Cahalane got in behind their defence in the last minute he showed sheer class with a classy goal that helped his team lead 2-11 to 0-4 at the break.

In the second half, it was a case of the Barrs taking their foot off the pedal but it made little difference as their opponents could only add four points to their tally.

There were many solid performances from the Barrs but the performance of Eoghan Finn deserves special mention as he finished with 11 points but it was his work rate that stood out over the hour.

Onwards and upwards for the Barrs in full knowledge sterner tests await them in this championship as Carrigtowhill face a fight to make the quarter-finals and avoid the drop when the senior tier is split into two sections with 12 clubs each.

Scorers for St Finbarr’s: E Finn 0-11 (0-9 f), C Keane 2-0, C Cahalane 1-4, R O’Mahony 0-3, S Hurley 0-2 f, B Hennessy, P Kelleher, B O’Connell 0-1 each.

Carrigtwohill: L Gosnell 0-6 (f), P Hogan 0-1(f), J Horgan 0-1.

ST FINBARR’S: S Hurley; O Murphy, J Burns, A McCarthy; G O’Connor, E Keane, C Walsh; B Hennessy, D Cahalane; C Cahalane, C Keane, E Finn; B O’Connell, R O’Mahony, P Kelleher.

Subs: B Beckett for R O’Mahony (43), R O’Mahony for B Beckett (inj 53).

CARRIGTWOHILL: S Devlin; P O’Sullivan, P Hogan, B Cashman; C O’Mahony, A Walsh-Barry, C O’Connell; J Horgan, B Twomey; S Roche, T Hogan, J McCarthy; D Crotty, S Rohan, L Gosnell.

Subs: B McCarthy for D Crotty (18), E O’Mahony for B Cashman (22), B Cashman for P O’Sullivan (inj 48).

Referee: Nathan Wall (Ballincollig).