St Finbarr's pushed to the brink by Carrigtwohill but survive to advance to P2 MHC final
Joy for St Finbarr's as players celebrate victory against Carrigtwohill after their Premier 2 Minor Hurling Championship semi-final (P2MHC) at Glenville. Picture: Chani Anderson
A cracking finish to a semi-final that never lost its edge, St Finbarr’s shaded Carrigtwohill in Glenville on Thursday evening to book their place in the Premier 2 Minor Hurling Championship decider against Bandon – and keep alive hopes of a P2 double.
When CJ Barrett rifled the net just after half-time and Conor O’Donoghue tagged on a point, the Barrs were six clear by the 33rd minute. That gap was trimmed to four by the 41st and would never stretch beyond three again.
Carrig kept coming. The lifeline arrived on 44 minutes, seconds after James Murray – imperious at centre-back all evening – had fired over a beauty. From the puck-out, Jarlaith Cullimore, so sharp on restarts, picked out Cathal Seymour in midfield.
Seymour set off, bursting through challenges, using all three catches, before blasting from the hurley to the roof of the net. Suddenly, 1-14 to 1-13.
Barrett and O’Donoghue steadied the Barrs with two points, but Carrig refused to wilt. Scores arriving in pairs for both camps.
Seymour from range, Ring from a free. O’Donoghue with a pair of placed balls, Ring answering in kind.
By the 55th minute, just a point separated them, 1-18 to 1-17. Evan Malone and sub Cathal Herlihy gave the Barrs daylight at three up with time running out, but Carrig dragged it back once more – Ring’s free and then Tom Walsh, who had been excellent throughout, cutting the gap to the bare minimum.
The eventual winers needed something special, and O’Donoghue supplied it – a stunning point from out by the sideline after they surged from the puckout. Carrig still had one last look. Seymour dropped in a delivery, Walsh gathered, only to be crowded out. The 65 that followed was squandered, and the Barrs had survived.
Much of that resilience was built on their defence. Murray and Liam O’Regan were immense in the half-back line, O’Regan reading the breaks in the sweeper role with the same authority he showed at U16.
Trevor Howe thundered into challenges, while Eoin Barrett’s work-rate was relentless. They were the difference.
Carrig, for all the brilliance of Seymour and Cullimore’s dominance on puck-outs, were left to rue 15 wides. Their frustration only sharpened by the fact the Barrs themselves racked up 14.
That waste will gnaw as much as the defeat.
St Finbarr’s were first to show, Trevor Howe and Evan Malone linking neatly with Charlie Kelleher for the opener, CJ Barrett following up inside two minutes.
Carrig weren’t long in answering, level by the fourth minute and again by the ninth, briefly edging in front before the Barrs stitched together the best run of the half – four on the spin between the 13th and 22nd minutes to move 0-8 to 0-5 clear.
Carrig’s response came in the form of Walsh, who whipped over two superb efforts to trim it back to one. O’Donoghue nudged the margin out again from a free, only for Sam Ring to punish ill-discipline twice at the other end.
For the third time, the sides were locked, 0-9 apiece on the half hour.
Parity didn’t survive to the break. Alex O’Herlihy clipped the final point of the half to edge the Togher side back in front, 0-10 to 0-9. And when play resumed, they looked to have delivered the hammer blow.
Howe cracked over a beauty, and Barrett – still U16 but already making waves at minor – buried the game’s first goal. Three minutes into the new half, the Barrs had daylight at 1-11 to 0-9.
It looked like the moment Carrig might break. Instead, it was the spark for a furious final 25 minutes that pushed the Barrs all the way, but they march on.
C O’Donoghue 0-10 (0-6 f, 0-1 65), CJ Barrett 1-2, E Malone, T Howe 0-2, C Herlihy, C Kelleher, J Murray, A O’Herlihy, J Martin 0-1 each.
S Ring 0-12 (0-11 f), C Seymour 1-2, T Walsh 0-3, D McCarthy 0-2.
J Cuddihy; D McGuirk, E Barrett; L O’Regan; P O’Shea, C Galvin, J Murray, T Howe; E Malone, C Kelleher; A Phillips, J Martin, C O’Donoghue; A O’Herlihy, CJ Barrett.
E Burke for Phillips (41), C Herlihy for Kelleher (55).
A Lee; R O’Keeffe, C Cashell; J Cullimore; C Murphy, C Rooney, K Kidney; J Flanagan, C Seymour; R Dolan, T Walsh, J O’Connor, D McCarthy; S Ring, B Fitzgerald.
K Jones for O’Connor (55).
A Hyland (Kilworth)
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