Premier SHC: Ben Cunningham on song as St Finbarr's begin title defence with victory over Newtown
St Finbarr's Ben Cunningham and Newtownshandrum's Tim O'Mahony had a good tussle during the Co-Op Superstores Premier SHC at Fermoy. Picture: Eddie O'Hare
CHAMPIONS St Finbarr’s are up and running following a comfortable win over Newtownshandrum in the Co-Op Superstores Premier SHC at Mourneabbey on Saturday.
Many solid displays from the Barrs but a 14-point tally from Ben Cunningham laid the foundation for this important win especially with the other two teams in the group Sars and Kanturk finishing level earlier in the afternoon.
Credit to Newtownshandrum they gave their all over the hour especially Jamie Coughlan who had a 1-12 contribution. However, when you only manage 1-5 from play over 60-plus minutes at this level the end result is not always a positive one.
Playing with the aid of a strong wind Newtownshandrum had a big advantage in the first half and despite the sides sharing six points in the opening five minutes the north Cork side suddenly took command.
Surprisingly indiscipline was posing the Barrs problems as they gave away soft frees and with Jamie Coughlan punishing them at will the champions trailed 0-8 to 0-3 in the 15th minute.
Four minutes later a Ronan Geary point increased their lead to seven points as the Barrs were struggling to handle the windy conditions.
Just as champions do, they found a period of dominance as they held their opponents scoreless for nine minutes.
In that period the Barrs scored five unanswered points as Newtown went completely out of the game.
The Barrs full forward Padraig Buggy should have done better eight minutes from the interval but his tame shot was easily saved by the Newtownshandrum keeper James Bowles when putting the ball between the posts was the obvious option.
Both sides continued to battle hard in the closing minutes, but a late Buggy point ensured they reduced the deficit to 0-13 to 0-11 at the break.
On the restart, Ben Cunningham continued with his sublime shooting from placed balls but credit to the U20 ace he has a lot more in his locker, and it would be no surprise next season to see him making an impact with the Cork seniors.
After Ciaran Doolin tied the game on the next possession Brian Hayes, who a quiet afternoon by his standards, had a goal denied following a superb James Bowles save.
Barrs coach Ger Cunningham must have reminded his team at the break about their silly fouling but they gave two more in the opening seven minutes that were executed by Coughlan.
It was evident the Barrs were pushing on and Brian Ramsey should have done better in the 39th minute following quality build-up play from Cunningham and Hayes.
Suddenly the Barrs finally found their stride and six consecutive Cunningham points gave them a seven-point cushion with six minutes remaining.
Newtownshandrum looked out on their feet but a minute later their best player on the day Jamie Coughlan ended a 17-minute drought with a quality goal.
A high ball into the square was caught by the Newtown talisman and with a beautiful swerve his placed shot billowed the back of the net.
The Newtown fans were willing their team on for a grandstand finish and Cathal Bowles had another opportunity to raise a green flag, but his shot went wide of the left post.
Another up-and-coming star in the Barrs squad is William Buckley who finished with three points from play. To be fair the centre-field pairing of Eoghan Finn and Ethan Twomey were excellent in the second half that took the pressure off when Newtown threatened to upset the odds.
Damien Cahalane had a solid game over the hour and finished with a monstrous point as the Barrs will now go into Friday’s game against Sarsfields with confidence.
B Cunningham 0-14 (0-7 f), W Buckley 0-3, E Twomey 0-2, P Beggy 0-2, S Cunningham, C Doolan, B Ramsey, D Cahalane 0-1 each.
J Coughlan 1-12 (0-10 f, 0-1 65), C Naughton 0-2, T O’Mahony, R Geary 0-1 each.
S Hurley; E Keane, J Burns, C Walsh; C Doolan, D Cahalane, B Hennessy; E Finn, E Twomey; B Cunninghan, S Cunningham, W Buckley; B Hayes, P Buggy, B Ramsey.
J Cahalane for Ramsey (56).
J Bowles, C Bowles, K O’Sullivan, R Troy; J Herlihy, T O’Mahony, D Hawe; C O’Brien, J Twomey; J Coughlan, S Griffin, C Naughton; P Noonan, J Geary, R Geary.
P O’Sullivan for J Twomey (h-t), D O’Connor for S Griffin (44), S Minihane for S Griffin (49), K Coughlan for C O’Brien (60).
Simon Stokes (Tullylease).
App?
