Sarsfields v Imokilly: Why Premier Senior Hurling final will be a classic...

A statistic to demonstrate Imokilly’s consistency. 

It’s been nine years since they were beaten in a game by more than one score. That day, in the 2015 quarter-final, it was Sarsfields who inflicted the “generally anticipated outcome” on the East Cork division, 0-20 to 0-16.

Cork comrades, Pat Ryan and Fergal Condon, were leading the opposing camps that evening, with the latter noting the “in-development” status of his young team. The subsequent decade has seen their blooming as a constant force in the club championship. 

They went unbeaten for 19 games in their treble streak from 2017 to ’19.

When Denis Ring was appointed in 2022, he spoke about how an “Imokilly brand” had been created, with young players aspiring to play with their division. During his tenure, they have beaten the division/colleges section into submission. 

They haven’t been surpassed in normal time in any game during that spell. Their knockout story has been a case of late goals and hard luck. That first year, Robbie Cotter blasted the Hail Mary leveller to bring the game to extra-time before Blackrock emerged on penalties.

Last autumn, they led Sars by four deep into stoppage time but Luke Elliott scrambled home in a crowd to trigger extra-time. Inspired by Cathal McCarthy, Sars won 1-23 to 0-25.

Therese O’Callaghan’s report from the Blackrock game neatly summed up the division’s problem once those games finished level: “With over half of the Imokilly starting team involved in club games over the weekend, the question was how would they fare in extra-time?” 

Each time, they played themselves to a standstill but the accumulation of minutes mitigated against their efforts.

MOTIVATION

The unforeseen consequence of two weather-disrupted weekends has been to clear Imokilly players’ schedule for both semi-final and final. The inadequate preparation and rushed recovery is not an issue. They can bottle the hurt of those narrow defeats for added motivation. 

If they feel events conspired against them in recent years, there must be a sense of manifest destiny about their run in for this final.

They have unusual freshness, fire in the belly, and are peppered with inter-county skill across the pitch.

In Sarsfields, however, they could hardly face trickier opposition.

If the key drawback for divisional teams has been their lack of training time together, Sars are the ultimate in unity of purpose. Their game plan requires repetition and coordination, honed through scores of training sessions across the year. How many teams have ever come within an hour of a double-double of league and championship titles?

They have experience in the right areas with their full-back unit of Paul Leopold, Craig Leahy, and Conor O’Sullivan remaining from that 2015 contest, as does Daniel Kearney to lead their midfield warriors.

The Riverstown side had to handle plenty of adversity throughout their title defence. When their celebrations were cut short by the flooding that destroyed their home pitch, it meant that Sars would spend the year heading all directions in search of training pitches.

It was disruptive, forcing a switch to Monday-Wednesday sessions, but it brought the team even closer together, sharing those commutes to Ballinacurra or Youghal and heading for recovery dips in the sea after training.

They have also had to deal without many of the key players from their 2023 success. Elliott and top-scorer Aaron Myers were Stateside for the summer. McCarthy and Killian Murphy have been out.

The semi-final marked a potential turning point as Myers – like Tony Kelly did for Clare against Kilkenny at the same juncture – found his form down the stretch to lead the way past Midleton. Like TK, he will hope to carry that impetus into the final. 

Cathal McCarthy’s fitness is another major factor. When left untracked in extra-time, his long-range arrows did so much damage to Imokilly last year.

If it’s sometimes hard to pinpoint the game-winning switches amid hurling’s chaos, there was no such difficulty in that skirmish. That move, and Imokilly’s failure to adjust, was the deciding factor. Given his recent return, perhaps McCarthy will reprise a floating role at some stage.

There are strong cases for both teams but Imokilly should’ve got over the line last year, have had 12 months to digest the lessons of that defeat, and may never get such unimpeded build-up to exact revenge. That should be enough.