Sarsfields – the standard setters once more
Sarsfields celebrate winning the Co-Op Superstores Premier SHC final at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh against Midleton. Picture: ©Inpho/Tom Maher
Sarsfields are champions again – and no one can argue against it. They were the better side from first whistle to last, doing enough with the wind and just as much against it.
It’s the signature of this team under Johnny Crowley: they always beat what’s in front of them. Always.
There were two games this season that Sarsfields lost. Both games came in the early stages of the league. Their first round defeat to Fr O’Neill’s, a game that finished 2-18 to 3-12. Then, in the third round, they lost again, against Glen Rovers, 2-24 to 1-18. Those remain the only occasions all year they were outscored on points, and both arrived while still shaking off the hangover of an extended 2024 campaign.
From 1 to 40, they remain the benchmark. The last time Sars won a Cork Premier Senior Hurling Championship game yet were outscored on points was their extra-time semi-final victory over Imokilly in 2023, 1-23 to 0-25.
There was no such caveat on Sunday. Against Midleton, they out-goaled and out-pointed them, completing two county titles in three seasons, adding another league-and-championship double, and topping it off with a Premier 1 Minor Hurling Championship triumph – also against Midleton.
They’ll now set their sights on defending the Munster crown and another tilt at the prize that slipped away last January, when Na Fianna beat them in the All-Ireland final.
The outcome was never really in doubt, even if Sars were patchy in spells of the first half. Both sides were off the pace early, the break arriving at 1-9 to 1-3 in favour of the Riverstown men.
Their wastefulness could have become an issue – seven wides, two goal efforts saved, another dropped short – all with the breeze. Yet even turning to face it, they never lost command. Midleton were only six behind at half-time having created little, but when Sarsfields hold a gap like that, it always feels wider.
There were nervy flickers midway through the second half. Colm McCarthy missed a routine free in the 47th minute, Midleton went up the field and Pa White nailed one from tight on the right. When Daniel Hogan, now on frees, missed the next, the margin was down to four, 1-13 to 1-9. Another team might have buckled. This Sarsfields side do not. Under Johnny Crowley, they do not panic and they do not slip.
That was the real dividing line. Sarsfields lost just three of their own restarts in the first half; Midleton coughed up 11. The Magpies went long and direct but were completely swallowed by the Sars half-back line, leaving their opponents to dictate every rhythm. Once Sars had that control, the rest felt inevitable.
Both first-half goals stemmed from turnovers. Midleton struck first – Pa White dispossessing Donal English and Evan McGrath pouncing to rifle home his first senior goal, having only graduated from intermediate this season.
But seven minutes later, Sars replied. Cillian Roche read Mikey Finn’s sideline cut, launched long to Cian Darcy, who fed James Sweeney to lash to the far corner on 18 minutes.
And when Sarsfields needed the clincher late on, Luke Dineen went long toward Paul Connaughton; Craig Leahy intercepted and sent it back, only for Sweeney to win it, shrug off Dineen’s challenge and hammer home for 2-18 to 1-13. Game over.
Midleton had their moments – Cormac Beausang’s drive superbly saved by Ben Graham, who’s had an outstanding season, and Mikey Finn’s free moments later causing chaos when it dropped in on top of the square, English failed to pick it first time and Alex Quirke pulled, but again Graham did enough and Sars cleared the danger.
For the third successive season, Midleton’s campaign ends at Sarsfields’ hands. They haven’t lost to any other club in championship hurling during that time – a sobering statistic for the Magpies.
This one came with caveats. No Conor Lehane. No Eoin Moloney. Seán O’Meara heavily strapped and brought on and off, Ross O’Regan similarly hampered, and he made way too in the second half.
They’ll also feel aggrieved at the first-half free count – just two awarded, the first not until the 25th minute, compared to eight scoreable efforts for Sars. But that imbalance was largely earned by Sarsfields’ discipline and defensive shape.
For Midleton, it has still been an impressive campaign – and one that will stand to them when they return next year, looking again for the scalp that continues to elude them, and bring down the Riverstown side.
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