St Finbarr's consign Na Piarsaigh to IAFC relegation decider with St Vincent's

St Finbarr's 4-16 Na Piarsaigh 0-6

St Finbarr’s finished their campaign in the McCarthy Insurance Intermediate A Football Championship on a winning note as they defeated Na Piarsaigh in Saturday’s lopsided encounter at Mayfield. 

It means Na Piarsaigh will play northside neighbours St Vincent’s in the relegation play-off.

In the opening half, St Finbarr’s dominated proceedings territorially as they restricted Na Piarsaigh to two points at the interval, with their first goal, which proved to be decisive, entering the second quarter. The second half was one-way traffic in favour of the Togher side as they got three goals, while Na Piarsaigh added four more points.

Eoin Sheehan opened the scoring with a point for the Fair Hill side in the third minute before St Finbarr’s seized the initiative. Denis O’Brien got the Togher side’s first point from play and Adrian Murphy converted two placed balls to put St Finbarr’s in the driving seat.

In the 16th minute, O’Brien doubled the Togher side’s advantage as he capitalized on sloppy defending by Na Piarsaigh, to score the game’s opening goal from the edge of the square.

St Finbarr’s Jerry Murphy exchanged points with Na Piarsaigh’s Sean Paul Cooke, before the Fair Hill side found themselves back on the defensive.

St Finbarr’s tagged on four unanswered points, including one from a free, to lead 1-8 to 0-2 at the break.

With the elements in their favour for the second half, Na Piarsaigh outscored the Togher side by three points to one before wayward kick-outs were to prove costly for the Fair Hill side.

Midway through the second half, St Finbarr’s Adam Lyne won possession from a Na Piarsaigh kick-out and set up Shay Fenton for St Finbarr’s second goal.

O’Brien and Shields both got a goal each in the space of a minute, with five minutes remaining.

Scorers for St Finbarr’s: M Shields 1-5 (0-3 f); A Murphy 1-3 (0-1 f, 0-1 45); D O’Brien 1-3; S Fenton 1-0; O Murphy 0-2; C Maher, P Kerins, J Murphy each.

Na Piarsaigh: E Sheehan, SP Cooke, C Hogan, E Fitzgerald, S Downey, J Gardiner 0-1 each.

St FINBARR'S C Haines; D Byrne, C McCarthy, J Kennefick; A McCarthy A Lyne, J Murphy; T O’Keeffe, C Jordan; D O’Brien, O Murphy, A Murphy; C Maher, M Shields, S Fenton.

Subs: E Finn for Maher (38), P Kerins for O Murphy, R Tempany for A McCarthy (both 51), L Hannigan for Jordan (54), R Fitzpatrick for Fenton (56).

Na PIARSAIGH: A O’Sullivan; D Kenny, C Long, P Lehane; D Spillane, E Sheehan, SP Cooke; K Waters, A Burke; S Downey, C Hogan, E Fitzgerald; K O’Meara, J Gardiner, M Sheehan.

Subs: P Hosford for Spillane (h-t), E Dorgan for Waters (34), D McNally for Hogan (51), P O’Donovan for E Sheehan (57).

Referee: Eoin Coleman (Youghal).