John Horgan on hurling: East Cork clubs have risen to the top once more

AN all-East Cork Premier Cork County SHC final should come as no great surprise to anyone given the role that the barony has played on Leeside since the turn of the century.

With three teams from that part of the county contesting last Sunday's two county semi-finals at headquarters, there was a strong likelihood that it was going to transpire again, there was definitely one team from East Cork going to contest the final with Imokilly and Sarsfields in direct opposition so therefore it was up to Midleton against the Barrs to make it an all local affair again on the final day of the season.

And they kept their side of the bargain by downing the championship holders from Togher and in the process making it a memorable weekend for the club.

Less than 48 hours earlier their second string competing in the IAHC defeated the Rockies to make it through to the final of that competition with Aghabullogue providing the opposition in that game.

Getting your first and second teams into the finals of their respective competitions is a quite remarkable achievement and all those who made that possible deserve the highest praise.

They may or may not end up with one or two title victories, maybe neither but it takes a huge effort on and off the field to put yourselves in a position to do so.

Last Sunday's two senior semi-finals were always interesting while at the same time, they never ignited to the extent we might have envisaged.

Yes, we did get a fairly dramatic conclusion to both games and such an occurrence can paper over a lot of things.

Was the standard in both games anything really special, the answer might be more of a no than a yes.

But semi-finals are all about winning, getting over the line and into the final and putting yourself in a position to land the silverware a few weeks later.

Sarsfields and Midleton have now done that and there is always the potential for the final to be the best game of the entire championship.

The losers last Sunday, Imokilly in the opener against Sars and the Barrs against Midleton in the latter will both have plenty of regrets, Imokilly more so given that they had one foot in the final entering stoppage time when they held a four-point advantage.

But Sars teams down the years have always illustrated an attitude that keeps them in with a shout right to the death and that was again the case this time when deep into time added on they somehow managed to secure an equalising goal that brought the game into extra-time.

In a lot of these types of situations in a crowded goalmouth, nobody is quite sure who got the vital touch to secure the most dramatic of equalisers and that was the case here again.

As it turned out it was Sars sub Luke Elliott who got that vital touch, the hero in the most sensational of circumstances.

Imokilly were shattered and the fact that seven of the squad had played with their clubs on Friday night and Saturday night, four of the starting team with Castlemartyr in their loss to Castlelyons in the PIHC semi-final less than 24 hours earlier had surely now swung the pendulum in favour of the Riverstown team.

The game remained in the melting pot right up to the final puck of the extra-time period but it was Sars who were celebrating at the final whistle.

Imokilly's wide count was far too great, their final tally well into double figures and that will have them wondering what might have been.

Sars too had a high count of missed opportunities but as they showed against the Rockies in the quarter-final, they are able to find a way when not playing to their maximum.

One player certainly deserves special mention, Cathal McCarthy, wearing the number four jersey delivering some quality points that made quite a bit of difference in the overall scheme of things, five points from open play a huge contribution.

STEEL

Johnny Crowley and Diarmuid O'Sullivan have certainly instilled a great belief into this squad of players and that's now got them back into a final for the first time since 2015.

There was another late goal in the second semi-final which ultimately proved decisive in catapulting Midleton back into another decider.

In many ways it was similar to the Sars goal in the opener, this time it was Cormac Beausang who got the last touch, firing home from close range.

And what followed was a wonder all of its own, a quite magnificent point from Midleton keeper, Brian Saunderson from what must have been 120 yards out, a score for the ages.

The Barrs loss was another illustration of how difficult it is to retain the county in Cork and it's even more difficult now given the group stage format with a lot more games to play before the ultimate hurdle.

As well as delivering that sublime point, Saunderson, a future Cork goalkeeper in the making, was wonderfully alert to deny Conor Cahalane, another huge moment in the game.

Conor Lehane really stood up to be counted when it really mattered in the second half and once more giving an example of his importance to this Midleton team.

Goals were in short supply in both games, just the two in over 140 minutes of hurling but maybe we should give the defensive covers credit in limiting that meagre enough tally.

The attendance last Sunday was just shy of 7,000, maybe a bit small for two semi-finals but that's the way it is these days and maybe some of us should stop living in the past when you would have 30,000 present for games of such magnitude. It's a similar story in all counties, closed terraces and a lot fewer at games than were in the Páirc.

So, after a very efficiently run championship from the outset, it's down to Sarsfields and Midleton to try and provide us with a cracking final that will shorten the long Winter ahead.

Plenty of other teams will have regrets and ruefully reflect on why it didn't happen for them but full credit to the East Cork rivals, they took the blows along the journey but in the end, they did it their way.

And Midleton proved that being championship inactive for a month as a result of taking the shorter route to the semi-final was not a hindrance as some might have been thinking.