Christy O'Connor: Sars showdown with Feakle will come down to attitude

Shortly after the final whistle of the Clare county final three weeks ago, just after Feakle had ended a 36-year famine, journalist Eoin Brennan spoke to Ger Conway, the Feakle manager.

With delirium raging all around him, Conway was composed and calm as he thoughtfully answered all of Brennan’s questions until the final one. What were his thoughts now on the upcoming Munster semi-final against Sarsfields?

“Nobody told us about that,” laughed Conway. “We thought it was all over. We’ll worry about that next week.” 

Conway was naturally only focussed on the moment, and in soaking in every drop of elation. 

Yet his comments were in stark contrast – and delivered in a totally different tone – to Johnny Crowley’s answer to the same question after Sarsfields were beaten in the county final by Imokilly a week earlier.

“I don’t even want to think about it," sighed Crowley. 

"We’ll go back to the club and try and pick the lads up over the next three or four days. We might have a meeting close to next week and see what the lads want to do. 

"If it’s a case they want to knuckle down and have a go off of it, we will. We’ll see.” 

Sars were naturally downbeat and clearly not in the mood to even think about a Munster club championship in that moment, but the disappointment always passes. And their reaction in the last few weeks will ultimately define how well Sars do now on Sunday.

It is a huge challenge because the mindset switch required to recover from losing a county final and go again has been nowhere the level needed from Cork teams to be competitive in Munster from that starting point.

FLAT

On the seven occasions that the team which didn’t win Cork represented the county in the province, they only won two matches out of 11, with two draws.

The history of those trips into Munster has been very mixed, with some of those performances descending into embarrassment. 

The nadir was in 2017 when Limerick’s Na Piarsaigh annihilated Blackrock by 22 points.

In the early years of the Munster club and All-Ireland championships, the divisional teams in Cork were allowed to compete as county champions. In 1966, Avondhu beat Éire Óg Ennis after a replay before losing the semi-final to Ballygunner.

It took 28 years before a divisional team won Cork again when Carbery beat Midleton in the final so Midleton were the first non-county Cork champions to play in Munster.

Given their successful history in the province during the previous decade, it was no surprise that Midleton immediately picked themselves up after that 1994 county final.  They made a huge statement when hammering Mount Sion by 16 points before losing the semi-final to Kilmallock by one point after a replay in Midleton.

Two years later, Na Piarsaigh didn’t even reach the 1996 county final, having lost the semi-final, but they represented Cork as the final was between Imokilly and Avodhu. Na Piarsaigh were subsequently hammered by Ballygunner by 10 points.

The following year, after losing the 1997 final to Imokilly, Sars drew with Ballygunner in the Munster quarter-final in Páirc Uí Chaoimh before losing the replay in Walsh Park by seven points.

In 1998, Blackrock beat Causeway from Kerry before being edged out in the semi-final by Toomevara. 

After Imokilly ended a 19-year wait in 2017, their subsequent three-in-a-row meant three successive years of non-county champions competing in Munster between 2017-’19.

After Blackrock’s dismal showing in 2017, Midleton ran Ballygunner to two points the following year, while Glen Rovers only lost to Borris-Ileigh by two points in the 2019 semi-final. And both of those sides went on to win Munster.

In the history of the non-county champions competing in Munster, the St Finbarr’s football team that lost the 1986 county final are the only side to crack the code, going on to win Munster and the All-Ireland.

A repeat of that scenario has never seemed further away than now, especially when the county’s win-rate in the province in the last 15 years is a paltry 7%. 

Those numbers are less appealing again when added to the win-rate of non-county Cork champions in Munster, which is only 18%.

The biggest challenge for Sars now, which has been the case with all of the Cork teams in the last 15 years, is to try and just win a game in the competition.

Sars’ situation now as non-county champions makes it harder again – or does it? 

They played in Munster last year, which makes them just the second Cork club to compete in successive years in the province across the last 15 years.

After losing to Ballygunner by seven points in the 2015 semi-final, the Glen beat Patrickswell at the same stage a year later, which is the last time a Cork club won a game in Munster. 

So did that experience from the previous year stand to the Glen, like it could with Sars now? Possibly.

Sars were annihilated by Ballygunner last year, which is bound to have stung the club, and these players. 

On Sunday, they play a Feakle side with no experience in the competition. Could that be the critical difference now?

ATTITUDE

From a Sars perspective, their performance will come down to attitude. How much do they want to perform for their club in Munster, especially after last year’s hammering? 

How badly do they want to reach a provincial final for the first time in their history?

If that desire is there, Sars’ status as non-county champions should be irrelevant.