Paul O’Keeffe hails St Finbarr's super keeper John Kerins

BARRS manager Paul O’Keeffe reflected on a tale of two goalkeepers after his side's one-point win over Clonakilty in Sunday's Premier SFC final.

His own number one, John Kerins, who kept a clean sheet with a couple of vital saves and the other, Mark White, who almost snatched a dramatic equaliser at the death.

“John made some great saves in the first half when they cut through us and were unlucky not to have got a goal or two,” he said. “I felt if Clon had scored a goal that was it and we would have been in big trouble.”

A relieved and delighted O’Keeffe managed to look at White’s late effort, which was from a difficult angle.

“There were plenty of others I didn’t. I know Mark from College and it was a kick I thought he might have scored from, but there was massive relief when I saw it go wide.

“To be fair it was a very difficult kick and I’m just delighted we held out.”

The successful manager, who guided UCC to the title a decade ago, expected a close game and he duly got it.

“It was down to the wire and Clon really pushed us all the way which is what we expected.

“They are a traditional club with a history of winning plenty of county titles in the past and they certainly not coming up to gift us the title. It’s a great day out.

“I think we had the belief to go on and win. If it had been a drawn game you could say we got the luck, but the lads just kept going right to the very end.

“We’ve spoken a lot about that. If there was a point or two in it in the last 15-20 minutes, we would drive on.”

And fittingly enough it was Steven Sherlock who came up trumps.

Who else would have come up with the winner, only Steven.”

The Barrs bench also played a leading role according to O’Keeffe.

“We had 44 players in the panel for the final and there is massive depth there, but you need that because it’s not a 15-man game anymore.

“We had five or six guys to come on and that’s what got us over the line.”