Stats show how brilliant Sars were in shocking Ballygunner, forcing 14 more turnovers and taking nine extra shots

Just after he’d scored his first goal on Sunday, Shane O’Regan wheeled away in delight, circling his finger in the air, before putting it up to his ear, revelling in the moment at the magnitude of the score but also giving a reminder of how he’d responded to recent criticism – and how O’Regan and his Sars team-mates had ignored all the outside noise since the county final.

It got even better again for O’Regan shortly afterwards with his second goal, but those brilliant images of his delight and beaming smile, provided the starkest contrast imaginable from the end of last year’s Munster quarter-final when O’Regan’s frustration encapsulated Sars’ disappointment. O’Regan was so fed up at the end of that 17-point drubbing from Ballygunner in Walsh Park that he snapped his hurley across his leg.

Sunday was an experience from a different universe, pushing Sars into a utopian state that looked galaxies away after the county final. Nobody would have felt that distance more than O’Regan, who was taken off scoreless at half-time against Imokilly, and who was only introduced for the last 11 minutes against Feakle.

His incredible contribution – scoring 2-3 from just five possessions – was the difference but the result was different to all prior expectations because Sars were a totally different animal to what many doubted they could be.

RAVENOUS

It took them to lose the Cork county final for Sars to become the beast they needed to be to ravenously hunt and chase down Ballygunner. There was something different about Sars against Feakle because they showed far more fight that afternoon than they’d displayed against Imokilly.

Still, despite reaching the county final, nobody could really say that Sars had played well all year. They showed what they were capable of in the last quarter against Feakle but that was never going to be enough against Ballygunner.

Sars finally found that form but the only way they were going to give themselves the platform to go and show what they’re capable off was by repeatedly hounding and hustling Ballygunner off their stride. And they did that – in spades.

The turnover numbers summed up as much. 

Ballygunner turned over the ball 36 times, 14 times more often than Sars, who coughed up possession on 22 occasions. 

Yet while Ballgunner sourced 0-11 from that possession, Sars mined a colossal 2-14 off Ballygunner turnovers.

When the real heat and pressure came on late on, Sars killed the game off from turnovers, mining 1-4 from that source from their last nine shots.

Sars went more direct than normal but they trusted themselves to win more of those 50-50 contests than Ballygunner normally allow. Sars only turned over the ball on four occasions in the second half from long deliveries but the overall second-half numbers around turnovers were highly instructive of just how much of a different animal Sars were; of the 18 turnovers Ballygunner coughed up in that period, seven were from Sars players physically overpowering, outmuscling or outhunting their opponents in possession.

HITTING HARD

St Thomas’ had provided the template for how to beat Ballygunner in last December’s All-Ireland semi-final by pressing high and hitting physically hard all over the pitch, never allowing Ballygunner’s drifting half-forward line free space in the middle of the field – especially Pauric Mahony – to shoot.

In his previous five games in Munster across the last two years, Mahony had averaged 0-3 from play per game. On Sunday, he was restricted to just 0-1 from play.

All the numbers were different for Sars, but they had to be. Ballygunner always get off more shots than the opposition but Sars had nine more shots (36-27).

Sars needed a good start and they got it, scoring 1-5 from their first six shots in the opening seven minutes.

When Ballygunner first looked they were finally starting to move, nailing three unanswered points in just one minute and 13 seconds at the end of the first quarter, Sars responded with the next three shots, scoring two. The message was already loud and clear from Sars: ‘Whatever you hit us with, we’re going to hit you back even harder.’ 

Three goals were decisive, which was also something Sars hadn’t been doing all year, having raised just four goals in their six previous championship matches. Sars hadn’t scored more than one goal in any of those six games but they trebled that total here.

Everything about Sars smacked of conviction and belief. After getting caught the wrong side of Dessie Hutchinson for Ballygunner’s first goal, at a time when Hutchinson was causing rack, Conor O’Sullivan put that setback behind him and went on to have a storming match.

Daniel Kearney was immense too as a drifting wing-forward, coming up with four points and a couple of assists. 

Sars would have expected those leaders to stand up but every single Sars player did the job they needed to do to take them to where they have now gone.

Jack O’Connor did have a couple of poor wides but his goal was a real statement of intent so early in the match. O’Connor’s searing pace is a weapon but how often have Ballygunner conceded a goal like that in the recent past, allowing a player rampage straight through the middle?

That was a sign that Ballygunner were not fully themselves, especially in terms of energy and aggression, but most of that had to do with Sars’ defiance and in-your-face intensity from the first whistle.

As the Sars hordes celebrated wildly on the pitch afterwards, one young supporter had a blue smoke flair taken away from him by a steward. Within seconds, another flair had been lit, the blue plumes of smoke billowing the mild winter air, heralding a day of days for the Cork club.

A day that was expected to be smothered in red and black was suddenly clouded in blue. Glorious blue for Sars.