SAHC: Finding a way to goal could be key to determining final replay

Last week’s drawn Co-op SuperStores Cork SAHC final was of course a low-scoring affair by any measure.

While we don’t always expect a Limerick-like 0-30 at club level, a 0-14 each scoreline on a dry, albeit very cold, night was below what might be judged as par for such an encounter.

Such an outcome could be ascribed to many different things. There was some less-than-perfect shooting - an occupational hazard in any game, but perhaps that bit more difficult when the tension of a decider is factored in.

The local-derby element might have played a part, too: while these clubs have not played a lot over the years - since the 1997 east Cork final, there was an SHC clash in 2009 and then an SAHC group game last year - they are side-by-side and the players involved would have met at under-age while also donning the St Colman’s College jersey together.

And yet - in their respective semi-final wins, neither side went white-flag crazy. Castlelyons put the ball over the bar 12 times against Blarney, while Bride Rovers had the same 14 points against Carrigtwohill as they would against their neighbours in the final.

The big difference between those occasions and the final was the green flags. Three David Morrison goals and one from Alan Fenton helped Castlelyons to outweigh the 0-19 of Blarney, while Bride Rovers had strikes from Brian Roche, captain Conleith Ryan and Ronan Connell in their 3-14 to 1-14 triumph against Carrig.

Prior to the semis, Castlelyons scored six goals in three group games - their six-haul gave them a bye straight to the last four - while Bride Rovers, who finished second behind Blarney on scoring difference and had to contest a quarter-final against Inniscarra, had found the net eight times in four outings.

That meant that, going into the final, you had one team with ten goals across four games - 2.5 per match - and the other with 11 in five (2.2). And, yet, an hour of hurling produced almost nothing in the way of proper goalmouth action.

There was one scramble near the Bride Rovers goal in the second half that might have ended with the ball crossing the line. Other than that, the respective forward lines found the avenues towards goal difficult to create and the two goalkeepers, Cian Hogan of Bride Rovers and Castlelyons’ Jack Barry, were not called upon to deal with any clear-cut opportunities.

We prefer to praise rather than criticise and so the credit here must go to those who did so much to ensure that the attacking players’ tasks were made difficult throughout. Colm Spillane swept superbly for Castlelyons and Cillian Tobin did the same at the other end, while Niall O’Leary did much to curb Brian Roche after his Cork colleague had enjoyed a good start. Alongside Tobin, Shane O’Connor shone in defence and attack - his three points from play was a tally not bettered by anyone else on the field - and Eoin Roche was a totemic presence at full-back for the Rovers.

The efficacy of those defensive set-ups probably owed much to the familiarity angle and both sides will have the feeling of done well in that regard with much room for improvement on the other side of the ball. That eagerness to go again was seen in how both clubs preferred the replay to be a week later rather than enduring any further delays, especially given the postponement of the original setting.

Given the quality of the players who can make an attacking impact, such as Anthony Spillane of Castlelyons or Bride Rovers’ Adam Walsh, the focus will be on how to stretch the defences that were unbreachable last week.

Pushing up and not allowing the opposition a sweeper would be one way to do that, but of course it leaves alive the possibility of being more open when out of possession. It’s the balancing act that will likely predicate the outcome.

A close game was expected last week and, while it might not have looked like materialising when Bride Rovers moved into an early first-half lead, it is what ultimately transpired. Few on either side, or any neutrals, will expect different when the neighbouring parishes collide once more.