St Vincent's and Na Piarsaigh's contrasting fortunes but northside football is struggling

The agony and ecstasy and the end of St Vincent’s one-point win over northside rivals Na Piarsaigh at Mayfield in the Intermediate A Football Championship relegation final was clear to see as Man of the Match Blake Murphy reflected on his side's vital win.

Murphy scored 2-4 in the first half of his side's final tally of 2-5, and despite failing to score in the second half the Vincent’s man couldn’t hide his delight.

“Look we knew coming into this game that a local derby game with so much at stake would be a test for both sides and we said at half-time despite having an eight-point lead that this game wasn’t over by a longshot,” Murphy said.

Getting a result was what this game was all about.

“Look we didn’t score in the second half, but the lads died for the jersey as we were restricted to 14 men for over 25 minutes."

Na Piarsaigh came within a whisker of winning and almost forced extra time, but Keith Buckley’s last gasp free went inches wide of the left post.

“We are so close to Na Piarsaigh on the northside as most of us went to school together and then we are on the pitch battling against each other to keep our Intermediate status and believe me that’s not easy." 

The mood in Na Piarsaigh camp was one of sheer disappointment as manager and club chairman Colin O’Sullivan summed up the mood.

“We can only blame our lack of quality in front of goal, but I cannot fault the effort as the lads who gave everything out on that pitch but just fell short,” O’Sullivan said.

Nowadays being a dual club can be tough and it was evident some of Na Piarsaigh players who were involved with the hurling squad all season were a little off the pace.

“We had the chances to win but sadly didn’t take them but look all credit to Vincent’s they had to battle hard with 14 men, and they fought hard for the cause,” added O’Sullivan.

The decline of football on Cork’s northside has been evident in recent years as O’Sullivan reflected on his club’s demotion from senior to junior.

It is incredibly hard to play both codes and I know some clubs can do it, but other clubs fail to do it. I'm not knocking the format, we basically haven’t the numbers.” 

Despite losing this relegation game O’Sullivan is adamant his club love the game.

“We haven’t fell out with football as we have some very good young footballers coming through but for us this season, we had to stabilise the hurling section as we had a drop in standards.

"Make no mistake we will be back competing in football and although today is a big knock it’s one we can recover from and I am sure with the work we are doing underage our glory years will return." 

FINE MARGINS

The final word was left to St Vincent’s manager John Paul Murphy who looked drained after the game.

"I have been involved with this club since I was a young boy and I can honestly say that today’s win was the most important during my time here."

Murphy was adamant his club didn’t deserve to be relegated.

“In our first game we were seven points up and ended up losing in the second we were three points up and looking good but lost by a point and in the third game nine points behind at the break and ended up losing by two."

The Vincent’s boss believes his side will bounce back at this level.

“We are very young as we are consistently blooding players and winning this game could prove the saviour of football in our club as getting relegated to Junior would have done untold damage.”