Ben Cunningham shows his class for the Barrs with 12 points in the SHL win over Newtownshandrum

St Finbarr’s 2-24 

Newtownshandrum 0-16 

THE Barrs Ben Cunningham gave an exhibition of striking for St Finbarr’s as they easily saw off a gritty Newtownshandrum side in the Red FM Senior hurling league at Togher on Sunday.

Cunningham is a sublime striker of the ball and there is little doubt he has a huge future in the sport.

Indeed looking at the Barrs under coach Ger Cunningham they are a very talented side and with a number of players to come back into the equation they will test the best in the forthcoming Cork championship.

It was noticeable from the thrown in that Newtownshandrum were playing a high press and they were rewarded in the second minute with a classy Pods Noonan point.

The Barrs to their credit didn’t take long to figure out how to break the press and consecutive points from Sam Cunningham and Jack Cahalane settled them into the action.

Credit to Newtown their resilience continued to upset the Barrs and the sides were level at four points each in the 14th minute.

The Barrs continued to look dangerous going forward and Padraig Buggy will be wondering how he managed to miss the target a minute later with a goal at his mercy.

As the half matured it was evident the Barrs were playing slicker hurling and with Jack Cahalane a constant nuisance to Newtown’s defence the Togher outfit stretched their lead to four points in the 27th minute.

Indeed with the Cunningham brothers Sam and Ben also a constant threat going forward it was no surprise the latter split the posts on the stroke of half time that gave his side a 0-11 to 0-6 lead at the short whistle.

The class of Jack Cahalane was epitomised in the opening minute when he drilled over a point and the Barrs followed with three more white flags.

Suddenly the Newtown defence looked in trouble and with the Barrs centre field pairing of Conor Cahalane and John Wigginton-Barrett making darting runs they found it difficult to halt the Barrs onslaught.

Midway through the quarter Newtown lost complete shape in defence and they were punished with two goals in the space of three minutes.

Ben Cunningham showed a dazzling turn of pace and just when the Newtown defenders expected him to pull the trigger he decided to assist it to full forward Jack O’Kelly who made no mistake from close range.

The second came when Wigginton-Barrett got in behind the Newtown defence and his finish was right from the top drawer into the corner of the net.

Despite putting in a decent shift Newtownshandrum were basically outclassed by a stronger Barrs unit.

Scorers for St Finbarr’s: B Cunningham 0-12 (0-5f, 65), J Cahalane 0-6, J Wigginton-Barrett 1-1, J O’Kelly 1-1 S Cunningham 0-3, E Keane 0-1.

Newtownshandrum: K Murphy 0-7 (0-5f), B Collins 0-3, P Noonan 0-2, S Griffin 0-2, R Troy, C Twomey (0-1 each).

St Finbarr’s: S Hurley; C Walsh, J Burns, E Keane; C Crowley, B Hennessy, E Finn; C Cahalane, J Wigginton-Barrett; B Cunningham, S Cunningham, P Buggy; C Keane, J O’Kelly, J Cahalane.

Subs: C Doolan for C Walsh (38), C O Connor for J Cahalane (48), A Barry for C Crowley (53), D Callnan for J Wigginton-Barrett, C Buckley for E Finn (55), S Kennedy for C Keane (56) A Buckley for J O’Kelly (56), D Murray for E Keane (56), K O’Flynn for S Cunningham (57).

Newtwonshandrum: J Bowles; R Troy, P O’Sullivan, M Ryan; B Collins, C O’Brien, K O’Sullivan; P Noonan, C Twomey; E O’Mahony, R Troy, D O’Connor; S Griffin, K Murphy, J Geary.

Subs: J Murphy for K O’Sullivan (52), T McCarthy for M Ryan (52), B Pulis for S Griffin (54), C Bowles for C O’Mahony (55).

Referee: Shane Scanlon (Newcestown).