Ben Cunningham returns to fire Paudie Murray's Barrs to narrow league victory over Blackrock
Jack Cahalane, St Finbarr's, under pressure from John Cashman and Ollie McAdoo, Blackrock, at Togher. Picture: Jim Coughlan.
Paudie Murray’s tenure as St Finbarr’s manager is officially up and running after a narrow victory over Blackrock in RedFM Hurling League Division 1 at Neenan Park.
Ben Cunningham made sure the former Cork camogie boss got off to the perfect start, with the forward hitting 0-14, including five from play.
Blackrock closed the gap late on with Robbie Cotter converting a penalty and PJ Lenihan driving the sliotar over from the tightest of angles by the 45. There was no time for one more score as the referee blew his whistle with Shane Hurley’s puck-out.
The game was played at a furious tempo from the first few minutes as the home side went in front at 0-4 to 0-1 with Cunningham, Jack Cahalane, Caolán O’Connor and John Wiggington Barrett splitting the posts. The Rockies slowly came into their own, with Cotter and Mike O’Halloran finding the target from play.
Things clicked in the 10th minute after Ryan Sweeney raised a white flag. Kevin O’Keeffe triggered this with a fine score from the halfway line and the restart led to Cotter getting his second to level at 0-5 apiece.
Wiggington Barrett and a Cunningham free restored the hosts' advantage at 0-7 to 0-5, before a sequence that saw Blackrock rattle off six points. Cotter got three, Sweeney, Mark O’Keeffe, and O’Halloran, one each and the Rockies led by four points.
Cunningham had the final say of the first half to leave it 0-11 to 0-8 when the referee blew for half-time. This was a fair reflection as each side had five wides over the first 30 minutes.
Cunningham, playing his first game since Cork’s victory over Clare in the Munster Senior Hurling League in Mallow last January, got things back underway with two quick frees.
It became a straight shootout from here, as efforts by Cotter were returned by Wiggington Barrett and Cunningham.
Blackrock went to their bench in a bid to inject fresh energy during this tit-for-tat sequence with Ciaran Cormack, Lee O’Sullivan and Jamie Ryan all on by the 50th minute.
St Finbarr’s brought in Adam Buckley and Ciaran Steele and struck four scores in a row through with three from Cunningham and one from Billy Hennessy to take control.
Blackrock had to go for it late on and were rewarded with a 59th-minute penalty which Cotter converted. Time was running out and a high press helped win the puck-out and Lenihan sent the break over.
It was an exciting finish, with no equaliser for the visitors.
B Cunningham 0-14 (0-7 f, 0-2 65), J Wiggington Barrett 0-3, J Cahalane 0-2, B O’Connell, C O’Connor, B Hennessy 0-1 each.
R Cotter 1-8 (1-0 pen, 0-3 f), R Sweeney, M O’Halloran 0-2 each, A O’Callaghan, O McAdoo, M O’Keeffe, K O’Keeffe, PJ Lenihan, I O’Keeffe 0-1 each.
S Hurley; E Keane, J Burns, A Barry; C Crowley, B Hennessy, C Walsh; S Daly, B O’Connell; B Cunningham, J Cahalane, C O’Connor; C McCarthy, J Wiggington Barrett, S Cunningham.
A Buckley for O’Connor (50); C Steele for O’Connell (50).
G Connolly; S Healy, A O’Callaghan, D Cormack; O McAdoo, J Cashman, M O’Keeffe; K O’Keeffe, N Cashman; PJ Lenihan; R Cotter, I O’Keeffe; F O’Keeffe, M O’Halloran, R Sweeney.
C Cormack for F O’Keeffe (HT); J Ryan for M O’Keeffe (49), L O’Sullivan for I O’Keeffe (49); J Golden for N Cashman (50), E Coughlan for A O’Callaghan (50); D Stokes for McAdoo (59).
Patrick O Mahony (Kilbrittain)
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