Blackrock v St Finbarr's: Young hurlers hope to impress new Cork manager

SUNDAY'S Co-Op Superstores Premier Senior Hurling Championship final between Blackrock and St Finbarr’s is the proverbial clash of the heavyweights, albeit the heavyweights may not have the silverware “yet” to back up such a description, bar Blackrock’s 2020 title win.

That win had bridged an 18-year wait without lifting the Seán Óg Murphy Cup for the Church Road outfit, while the Barr’s have been stuck on 25 titles since their last triumph way back in 1993. 

The fact that most of the team that line out on Sunday weren’t even born when Carbery were beaten by a point in a replay that year tells a lot. It has been a long wait.

The above would suggest that we are dealing with two clubs that are just about competitive at the highest level of Cork club hurling but there is a general feeling around Cork that this final might be the first of many meetings between these two famous clubs at the business end of the championship in the coming years.

We had the extra time thriller between the Rockies and the Glen in the 2020 decider, and Cork hurling fans will be hoping for similar fare on Sunday, with more to come in the coming years between ‘the big three’ in the latter stages of the championship.

It is only two years since the Barrs were destroyed by 3-20 to 0-15 by the Glen in the opening round of the championship at Páirc Uí Chaoimh. The likely team to start on Sunday contains eight of those players who started in that horrific mauling, with youngsters Jack Cahalane and Ethan Twomey also both coming off the bench in the second half when the game was already gone.

To go from a thrashing like that to being slight favourites for the county final represents a huge transformation in the space of 24 months for the Togher side. 

The main difference between that point and now has been the injection of youth, energy and talent from the likes of Jack Cahalane, Ethan Twomey, Ben Cunningham, Ben O’Connor and William Buckley. 

Their arrival had been well signposted, as they had all impressed coming up through the age grades, and all had caught the eye at underage level for Cork, but no one realistically expected them to have this kind of impact so soon on the senior side.

This exciting bunch have brought a real swagger back to St. Finbarr’s hurling, and while the Rockies play an attractive and abrasive brand of hurling of their own, a lot of the neutrals on Sunday will be tuning in to see how good these Barr’s youngsters are.

Of course, it would be no surprise if the Rockies specifically target some of them. 

They can certainly expect to be tested both tactically and physically early doors on Sunday.

Of the twenty players used by Kieran Kingston in the All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Galway at Semple Stadium in June only one Barrs man and one Rockie figured on the Cork team. These were Damien Cahalane and Alan Connolly, respectively.

INCREASE

With two such strong panels on show, you would expect these numbers to certainly increase from next season onwards, although realistically we cannot expect both teams to have huge representation either – we are more than likely talking about just two or three players in reality.

New Cork manager Pat Ryan will certainly have his eye on a number of players on Sunday, but the big question is whether the players on show offer anything significantly different from what is already on the Cork panel.

You could actually imagine the likes of Blackrock sharpshooter Robbie Cotter, as well as Fr. O’Neill’s Billy Dunne, prospering in Limerick’s system, for instance, where low ball is delivered into acres of space allowing Seamus Flanagan and Aaron Gillane to strike cleanly over their shoulder, but whether their style suits Cork’s approach is another matter.

One thing the Cork panel does not lack is inside scoring forwards. 

Ryan is likely to be more in the market for players who can fill certain roles in the middle eight, hence why someone like Ethan Twomey is more likely to see action in next year’s league.

I’m sure the temptation will also be there to get Ben O’Connor involved in the senior setup as soon as possible, in order to encourage him to choose hurling over a rugby career.

Whatever the result, it is guaranteed to end up being an extremely historical day for one of Cork hurling’s most famous clubs.