Blackrock v St Finbarr's: Barrs double dreams an inspiration rather than a distraction
St Finbarr's manager Ger Cunningham pictured at the club's Neenan Park grounds. Picture: Eddie O'Hare
SUNDAY'S Co-op SuperStores Cork Premier SHC final between St Finbarr’s and Blackrock will be the clubs’ first meeting in the decider since 1982.
The Barrs won that and that year also saw them claim the county senior football title, beating Duhallow in the final. With the Togher side gearing up for a clash with Nemo Rangers in the Bons Secours Hospital Cork Premier SFC on October 30 as they look to retain the Andy Scannell Cup, naturally there is double talk.
Hurling manager Ger Cunningham, who played in the 1982 final, felt it was something that couldn’t be ignored.
“If there is a narrative going around, and we were all hearing that kind of talk, you can’t brush it under the carpet in any way shape or form,” he said.
“We tried to get the lads to embrace what was going on, because it is fantastic and we haven’t had it since the 1980s, when we were last involved in two finals, and to feed off the momentum and the energy from it, but not to let it distract them in any way shape or form.
“We had to discuss it and talk about it, but the lads are hopefully able to park it when it needs to be parked.”
Certainly, the fact that the Barrs are riding high in both codes has allowed each code to feed off the other. There are quite a few dual players and football manager Dr Paul O’Keeffe acts as the medic for the hurling side. Co-operation is essential, Cunningham feels.
“We have to,” he says.
“Paul is the hurling doctor, [football selector] Paddy Hayes was involved with myself and Billy O’Shea as minor selector a couple of years ago.
“We have to co-operate but the system is pretty straightforward. It is week on, week off. We have tried to mind the players. The players are the priority. There is no point us arguing or fighting over players. We must look after them.
“What is right for them is the golden rule. I think it has worked well.
"The day in Thurles and the day in Portlaoise, against Kilcoo, it was a massive day for the club. It is not just the club anymore. It is the whole area and whole parish and the whole community.
When the Barrs beat Carbery after a replay in the 1993 final, it was the club’s 25th title and Cunningham’s sixth medal. Nobody could have imagined that it would take 29 years for them to make it back to the showpiece occasion. The longer the run goes on, history can carry a heavy burden, but the current crop don’t necessarily feel it.
“It probably could be a burden when things aren’t going well,” Cunningham says.
“People would have high expectations of the Barrs being competitive and competing in county finals and when that doesn’t happen, that frustration can be a bit of a burden.
“But the past is the past. The past has nothing to do with them in any shape or form. They are living in the moment and they are playing for themselves.
“If we can only impact it in a positive way – the tradition of the Barrs – that is a plus.”
Cunningham’s brother Brian was also part of the team in 1993 and there is a family tie now with his sons Ben and Sam part of the panel. As the manager and father to two players are the lines of demarcation ever blurred?
“What I have tried to do is treat them as players the same as everyone else,” he says.
“I have tried to take away the emotion of the fact that they are from the same family. I have tried to put in a situation where if they are good enough to play based on their ability, they’ll play. And if they’re not, they’re not.
“That can be hard at times. Challenging, at times. I have tried to do it that way. I have had experience of it. I think everyone has it.
“Having John [Cremin], Adrian [O’Brien], and Billy [O’Shea] there, who don’t have any family directly involved in the team, they are very grounded on it. I would respect their thoughts.”
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