Brian Hayes flew the flag for Cork dual players with deadly display for St Finbarr's
Brian Hayes scores goal number three in the Munster semi-final at SuperValu Pairc Ui Chaoimh. Picture: Larry Cummins
Playing football in the last days of November is far from ideal yet every club in Ireland hopes they get the opportunity to do so.
Buttevant, Aghabullogue and St Finbarr’s will all certainly have no complaints as they all look forward to provincial club finals in a fortnight.
The trio of clubs will represent Cork in the Munster Junior, Intermediate and Senior finals, driven to these deciders by huge contributions from their attacking talismen in their semi-final triumphs this weekend.
Aghabullogue found themselves level with Limerick side Askeaton-Ballysteen-Kilcornan with just 11 minutes remaining in the Munster IFC semi-final but to their credit they stood up down the home stretch to pull clear by four in the end.
Unsurprisingly, Matthew Bradley played a key role in those championship minutes, with his brilliantly taken two-pointer with seven minutes left proving crucial. David Thompson and Colm Gillespie also popped over points in that closing spell of dominance by Aghabullogue, but it was the nine-point contribution of Bradley that did the damage. He was the only player from the club to register more than a single point in the win.
On Saturday, Buttevant were busy over in nearby Kildorrery seeing off another Limerick club, Ahane, in the Munster JFC semi-final, with captain Mark Lenahan starring as he plundered 1-5 from play in the 10-point triumph. It was far from a one-man effort, however, as Conor Hanlon slotted 0-5 and brother David notched 1-1.
They now look forward to a meeting with Ballymacelligott from Kerry on Saturday week.
In the first quarter, it looked like we were in for a tight affair, but a devastating scoring burst of 1-7 without reply effectively ended the game as a contest before half time. Ricky Barrett managed to open the scoring after excellent build-up play by Steven Sherlock and William Buckley to get in behind the Éire Óg blanket defence.
Mark McInerney slotted a sublime two-pointer off his left peg in the ninth minute to showcase the strength of the breeze that was behind the Ennis men. They would have been encouraged by the score, but it would also have been a signal that they needed to make hay in the opening half.
They didn’t.
Éire Óg goalkeeper Cian Howard brilliantly smothered an Ethan Twomey goal attempt from point-blank range in the 15th minute after superb build-up play from Hayes and Ian Maguire, but just three minutes later he was cursing himself. Hayes bagged the first of his three goals in the 18th minute as his attempt at a point fell short and somehow managed to slip through the fingertips of Howard.
And to rub salt in the wound, William Buckey and the impressive John Wigginton-Barrett slotted two further points within a matter of seconds of the goal and the Togher side were suddenly in complete control.
The Clare side had been 0-5 to 0-3 up when the goal went in but they were in shellshock mode just eight minutes later as the Barrs had added 1-6 without reply, with the knowledge that they would have the breeze in their favour during the second half.
McInerney slotted his fifth point just past the half-hour mark, to end a run of a quarter of an hour without a score from the Ennis side and 90 seconds later he arced over his second two-pointer to ensure they only trailed by five at the break. That Barrs' scoring burst meant that no one was running to the bookies to back the Clare men.
The big names in Barrs' line-up certainly turned up in the first half, but the likes of Barrett and Colm Dennehy stood out too.
Brian Hayes’ 45th-minute goal, expertly dispatched to the bottom corner, ended the game as a contest and put nine points between the sides, a huge gap this time of year. The third was just a cherry on the icing.
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