Cork PSHC: St Finbarr's balance long and short restarts across opening three games

The last of the big five to run the puckout rule over, and three games form the sample. St Finbarr’s made it through courtesy of their final-round defeat of Kanturk – a win that was never straightforward, not until the closing stretch.

In the opener against Douglas, the Barrs looked in stride from start to finish. The numbers back it up: 21 from 26 restarts found their target (80.77%), a healthy margin against Douglas’s 26 from 41 (63.41%).

With the breeze at their backs in the first half, Shane Hurley varied his distribution and kept Douglas guessing. Only two restarts were lost, both long. Every puckout taken into their own half stuck, no matter the angle.

There was method to the early exchanges. Of the first seven puckouts, four went Douglas’s way and three to the Barrs – all retained.

Quick restarts were a feature, referee Cathal McAllister letting the flow continue, and the Barrs prospered from it. That luxury disappeared against Blackrock under Ciarán O’Regan’s whistle, and it proved costly.

Back to Douglas: the Barrs’ dominance was all down to Ethan Twomey, once again a commanding figure at centre-back.

He hoovered up possession, carried with purpose, and repeatedly turned defence into attack. Douglas, with the wind in the first half, sent 16 puckouts beyond the Barrs’ 65. They held on to just four. That tells its own story.

In the second half, with the breeze against them, Hurley still maintained control. Of 13 puckouts, five dropped short of the 65 and all were claimed. The other eight went long, with Barrs retaining most. By the end, the efficiency was emphatic.

But where round one brought control, round two brought chaos. Against Blackrock, the puckouts fell apart. Hurley tried short in the first half and had success – seven from eight in the first half – but the long game unravelled. Just four of 10 were retained.

The breeze wasn’t as influential this time, but it hardly mattered. Twomey was still prominent, yet the Barrs bled possession. In the second half Hurley went long with 11 of 14, only five retained. By full-time, their retention had collapsed to 19 of 34 (55.88%). Blackrock, meanwhile, committed to the wings, were actually worse off with 55%.

The Rockies’ press was ferocious, and none more so than Tadhg Deasy. Five of the Barrs’ 19 first-half puckouts went his way. Three were lost outright, the other two hard won. Blackrock swarmed and suffocated their opponents. With O’Regan denying the Barrs fast restarts, they struggled.

That pressure, more than anything else, decided the game.

That left Kanturk, and a response was required. They found it.

In the first half, Hurley went short on six occasions and all six were retained. When he went long, the right side yielded dividends – four of six claimed – but two left-sided efforts were lost.

Kanturk had their own issues. Only four of their nine long puckouts stuck in that opening period. Damien Cahalane was commanding, Twomey again a key outlet.

With the breeze in the second half, Hurley stuck to the short option often. Six of 11 went short and every one was retained. Long was more of a mixed bag, just two of five secured, but enough to keep Kanturk at arm’s length.

But their opponents were very impressive in hitting the Barrs’ half-forward line. Central/right yieldd a return of six from nine for Grantas Bucinskas.

When the sums were done, the Barrs had 19 from 28 (67.85%) retained – their second-best return of the campaign – against Kanturk’s 23 from 36 (63.88%), which was the highest posted by any of their opponents.

So the pattern emerges: control against Douglas, collapse under Blackrock’s suffocating press and an outstanding display from Tadhg Deasy, recovery against Kanturk. Hurley’s distribution was clever, Twomey and Cahalane essential in the retrieval game.

They’ll need to bring their very best if they’re to beat Imokilly. With Cork seniors Séamus Harnedy and Diarmuid Healy there, they’ll look at Kanturk’s success in the half-forward line as something to target.