McSharry has the golden touch for Midleton in Féile hurling final

Midleton 1-9

Sarsfields 1-8

Midleton win on golden score

MIDLETON were crowned Cork John West Féile Premier 1 champions in dramatic fashion at Douglas in the clash of the near-neighbours last night.

A late score for Midleton looked like they had won it in normal time but the impressive Darragh O’Donovan kept a cool head under pressure to point for Sars to take it to extra-time.

There the sides couldn’t be separated and it went to golden score.

The referee restarted the game and Seán McSharry was the hero of the night as he watched the sliotar sail over the bar to secure the title for his side after coming on late in extra-time.

A dramatic end to what had been a close and exciting game all through. The winners will now go on to represent Cork in the national finals next month in Thurles.

Both sides had some impressive displays with O’Donovan in top form for his side with Daniel Garde the pick of the bunch for Midleton.

Conor Morley opened the scoring for Midleton but two frees from O’Donovan put Sars in front. Garde equalised, with Jack Huggins and Garde again on target to make it 0-4 to 0-3 to Midleton.

With 11 minutes gone O’Donovan set Harry Cogan up for Sars goal, with Garde raising the white flag at the other end.

Barry O’Flynn pointed for Sars to put them 1-4 to 0-5 in front at half-time.

O’Donovan was on target again, with Garde replying for Midleton. With time running out it was 1-6 to 0-7 in favour of Sars.

But in the last minute Midleton took the lead when Garde goaled from a free, but O’Donovan rescued his side to take it to extra-time.

There were only two points in extra-time with James McSweeney raising the white flag for Midleton and O’Flynn for Sars to take it to golden score.

From the restart Midleton won possession and the ball broke to McSharry and he coolly slotted over the bar to see his side take the title.

The group stages were held on Saturday morning with Sarsfields, Ballincollig, Shadrum and Midleton qualifying for the semi-finals, which were also held on Monday night at Douglas.

In their group Sars had wins over Douglas and Kilara Óg, as did the Glen to set up a winner take all clash between the two, with the East Cork side going through,

In their group Ballincollig had wins over Bishopstown and Carrigtwohill, to again set up a winner takes all game with the Barrs.

This ended all square and Ballincollig went through on scoring differences.

Shandrum has wins over Mallow and Inniscarra to advance, with Midleton getting the better of Killeagh and Aghada and like Ballincollig they topped their group on scoring averages.

The semi-finals saw Sars get the better of Ballincollig and Midleton proved too strong for Shandrum.

Scorers for Midleton: D Garde 1-6 (1-5f), C Morley, J McSweeney, S McSharry 0-1 each.

Sarsfields: H Cogan 1-0, D O’Donovan 0-5 (5f), B O’Flynn 0-2, J Huggins 0-1.

MIDLETON: J Hogan; A O’Connor, M McSweeney, Y Mehigan; T Dunlea, C Cronin, C McSweeney; E Fraser, F Kelly; C Morley, D Egan, C O’ Brien; J McSweeney, D Garde, P Barrett.

Subs: O Dennigan for Y Mehigan, S McSharry for D Egan.

SARSFIELDS: J Austin; P O’Brien, R Higgins, B Galvin; J McMahon, J Huggins, C Quirke; L Hogan, D O’Donovan; Z Herlihy, B O’Flynn, C Austin; D McCarthy, R McCarthy, S Bracken.

Subs: H Chambers for P O’Brien, H Cogan for D McCarthy, C Carroll for Z Herlihy.

Referee: Brian Sweeney, Erins Own.