Barrs two from two under new management as new rules provide change in pace

Since getting by Clonakilty in the 2021 Cork Premier Senior Football Championship decider, St Finbarr’s have been unable to add another.

Three seasons, two semi-final defeats, and one final heartbreak.

The Barrs make up one of the ‘big three,’ and you can always bank on the Togher outfit to be one of the main contenders come championship.

However, of the last three seasons, last year felt like the biggest step back for the 10-time champions. It was a sesaon which the Barrs had the fourth worst defensive record of the clubs competing for the Andy Scannell Cup. So the subsequent management reshuffle came as little surprise.

Brian Roche came on board as bainisteóir, joined by Cork and Barrs icon Jimmy Barry-Murphy. Also on the management team is Tomás Manning, who was integral to the AG’s Harty Cup run.

The ‘factory reset’ has improved the situation. The Barrs have done a lot of things right in their opening two games, and captain Enda Dennehy is pleased – not only with their results, but the impact the new rules has had on the team.

“Good shift, the new rules are making a big difference,” he began. 

A lot of free flowing and fast football, tap and go makes a big difference.

“It’s definitely much higher scoring, and certainly for a neutral it’s more entertaining to watch. It’s a nice change, a good start to the league. Two wins, we’re happy at the moment.” 

On a personal level, Dennehy is torn over the new rules but believes they are ultimately better for the sport “Yes and no! It’s definitely better going forward but defending is much harder, it’s the same point from different perspectives really,” he said. “Overall it’s definitely more enjoyable, we’re here to play football, we’re here to use the ball.

“Nobody wants to be packing a defence with 15 or anything like that.” 

Two games in, St Finbarr’s have raised five orange flags. Four of them came from the boot of Steven Sherlock, despite him playing only 60 of available 120 minutes. A huge loss, yet the Barrs’ winning margin only dropped from five points with him to four without.

“There’s no doubt he’s a phenomenal talent. It’s great to have someone where if you get a foul, you’re fairly certain that it’s going over – even again then from play,” Dennehy adds. “We have buckets of scorers, we have buckets of talent.

“The last league game we had six debutants, a few of those lads have played two games in a row so we’re bringing fellas through and building our way up to the big stuff.

RELIANCE

“It doesn’t matter who gets on the scoresheet, I know we rely on one or two a lot but even when they’re not there it’s shoulder to the wheel, everybody chips in.

“Get the ball to the best man, whoever is on the end – it doesn’t matter.” 

While the Barrs have shared the workload and the likes of Cillian Myers Murray and William Buckley stepped up in the absence of Sherlock, neither of the two league wins have been plain sailing.

They’ve done well for the most part but on both occasions their opponents have found a way back into contention, even if they both fell short by the final whistle. Despite the Barrs’ resolve when the pressure is on, Dennehy feels they can do more to avoid scenarios like that.

“It’s not something we want to be doing either though, once you get ahead you want to keep ahead and keep going forward.

“It’s good to have in the back pocket, and know that you can hold tough when you need to. Something that we probably need to get better at is game management.

“But that’s probably a good thing to be practicing in an undesirable circumstance.”