Paudie Palmer: All hail the brilliant club hurlers who were singing in the Páirc Uí Chaoimh rain 

I COULD begin by mentioning getting stuck in the flood and getting a puncture on the way home from Páirc Uí Chaoimh last Sunday but to do so would involve a lot of profanities!

Well done though to St Finbarr’s who ended that 29-year wait in a set of jerseys whose numbers were clearly identifiable even in the horrific weather conditions. Well done also, for the blow they stuck for the dual brothers.

As has been well documented, St Finbarr’s have journeyed through the lean byways and highways in the recent past, and on one or two occasions had to park their donkey outside the last chance saloon. They weren’t relegated but they came close.

Meanwhile, back at their Togher base a number of individuals whose names I don’t have were ploughing and harvesting by coaching young players in hurling and football. Those, whoever they are, can take enormous pleasure in the river dance or rain performance in Páirc Uí Chaoimh and the football equivalent of 12 months ago.

Prior to the Noah's Ark experience on Sunday, the roster had us in Enniskeane for a novel county junior A football championship quarter-final between Kilmurry and St James.

The mid-Cork side won principally because of the early arrival of their two goals.

In the 13th minute, a brilliant run by Padraig Berhanu was completed when he caused the raising of the first green flag. Eleven minutes later, his nuisance value served to distract Niall Evans in the St James goal allowing Liam Wall’s effort from distance to also end up in the net.

At half-time, Kilmurry led 2-4 to 0-5 and with eight minutes remaining they led by eight. Then the Ardfield side’s best player Aaron Hayes won possession and scored a wonderful goal. Several minutes later he provided the assist for Frank Hayes to score their second.

It brought the margin to two, but points from Paudie Hinchion and Ryan Leahy enabled the favourites to advance to a semi-final meeting with Urhan in Bantry on Saturday week.

Despite this being the fifth grade of football championship in Cork, the ball-carrying skills were of a high order, head up at all times.

The beauty, if you wish for the defeated team, is that the St James, akin to the other seven other divisional junior champions, will be promoted to the newly created 12-team premier junior grade in 2023.

DELUGE

The first game in the Sunday deluge was the meeting of Castlemartyr and Inniscarra with a valued place at the Senior A house at stake.

For a club that is a serious provider for its community, it is a little difficult to believe that Inniscarra have only won one adult county; in 1975 when they defeated Ballymartle in junior to move up to intermediate where they have been since.

Of course, a lot has changed in the meantime; one being that there were only three adult county championships back then — senior, intermediate, and junior; now there are seven.

Castlemartyr, the other half of the Imogely parish, have more or less been on an upward spiral since winning the county junior in 2014 and in the fourth minute of injury time on Sunday they were within inches of climbing their third Everest in as many years. Some achievement!

With the season heading for vacation, the challenge for club officers at this time is putting management teams in place for 2023. Some of the outgoing crews may wish to take voluntary redundancy, others may be presented with coded versions of a P45.

About 11 months ago, Inniscarra akin to others, were faced with this dilemma when an unlikely scenario presented itself. Several individuals who were part of the 2021 Seandún senior hurling management team made it known that they were interested in taking on a club challenge.

For Inniscarra, their initial response was probably along the lines of 'what do we do here?'

This was new territory, a complete, all-in, outside management team. 

Not sure why these philanthropists choose this Mid Cork team; it wasn’t that Inniscarra were viewed as market leaders or that it was universally agreed that they were champions in waiting.

Anyway, it was agreed that four outsiders would take the reins under the baton of Paul McCarthy, St Finbarr’s, with Mark Prendergast, now a western dweller but a former Na Piarsaigh stalwart, Ken St Ledger from Douglas, and Gordon Ahern (Lough Rovers), the able deputies.

The phenomenon of the outside manager-coach is now well-engrained in the GAA and the cost associated can place a financial burden on a club.

So, I know that you would like to know, what does it cost to hire an entire management team? In Inniscarra’s case, not a cent and what a job they have done.

In the 55th minute, Sean O’Donoghue put Inniscarra one in front. A minute later, Joe Stack pointed for parity.

A minute on the clock, Mike Kelly pointed a free, when he did likewise a minute later, Castlemartyr’s three-in-a-row was two points to the good and the heavens were still open.

Fifteen minutes earlier, Kieran Rice an electrician from Mathey, was introduced. The sliotar in the square, clock on red, the audience enthralled, some drenched, witnessed Rice’s drive to the net.

Inniscarra by one, Stack hit the equaliser. In the 64th minute Ciarán Joyce won possession and took off, there was only one way to stop him before he would unleash the winner.

When that happened, it was a free-in. The accurate Mike Kelly, who had struck 35 frees across the championship until then, hit it just a fraction wide.

On the final whistle, a text message arrived from an unknown source saying “Kieran Rice’s father George, who was hurler from Kilgarvan, was the garda that was killed along with his colleague Seamus McIntyre from Kenmare in a road traffic accident on the North Ring Road on the 22nd of April 2001.”

The goalscorer was eight when his father died, the late free was never going over.

A draw was a fitting finale to an incredible contest.