'Standard this time of the year' – Jamie Harrington content despite Blackrock's ssecond-half dip

Certainly it was a performance that could have been better, but for a March outing, Blackrock manager Jamie Harrington would have felt satisfied after defeating Fr O’Neill’s away from home on Sunday morning.

Their Division 1 Hurling League contest had been very much dominated by the Rockies across the opening half hour, but they allowed their opponents back from an eight-point deficit at the break to lead by just one with nine minutes to go.

The large swing in the second half was a surprise in that it wasn’t wind-assisted – what existed of the wind blew crossfield for much of the game – but there was still no cause for any Blackrock concern.

“That's kind of standard this time of the year,” Harrington said after the win. “I'm not sure I'd blame any conditions other than ourselves there, to be honest. This time of the year you get inconsistent performances, and you drop off tackles and a couple of guys feel comfortable out there and all of a sudden you're under pressure.

“It's standard enough this time of the year. All the games you play, you will kind of do well for 10 minutes and then struggle for 10 minutes. So that's, whether it's into the wind or with the wind, it makes no difference. Hills or whatever, that's the way it's going to be anyway.” 

The aim at this early stage of the year for the Rockies is trying to build depth and give players minutes as they assess the squad.

“[We’re looking at] a couple of players,” he said. “Today we had maybe six who started against Midleton last year in the county semi-final, so we're looking for a couple of the 20, 21, 22-year-olds to put a bit of pressure on guys and hopefully produce something.

“Some of them did very well today, I'm happy with that.” 

The only six to start both against O’Neill’s and in their semi-final defeat last year were Jamie Ryan, Daniel Meaney, Niall Cashman, Kevin O’Keeffe, Robbie Cotter and Michael O’Halloran.

And the six did very well on Sunday. Cotter looked to be a threat any time he was in possession, and got the late goal to ensure victory. Kevin O’Keeffe clipped two from midfield, and O’Halloran finished with 0-6.

Cashman and Meaney combined for 0-6 from play in the first half alone as the Rockies enjoyed a huge volume of space around the middle third to pick off scores from distance.

“Niall was excellent,” Harrington remarked. “But in fairness to Niall, a lot of those came from PJ Lenihan getting turnovers or Fionn O’Keeffe winning a turnover coming backwards, or a tackle and then tracking back. Niall ended up on the end of that.

“So we did very well there and we did very well retreating, trying to contain them.

“Second half we didn't do that so well, and they got it a little bit too easy at times,” he admitted. “But that's one of the main things. So Niall being back in the pocket there on his own, that was great for him, but it's the result of pressure above that didn't really happen in the second half.” 

While their second and first half performances differed greatly, the city side managed to go the entire hour without getting a single score from a placed ball, and they finished the game with 10 different scores.

“We didn't get any score from frees,” he added. “So we got 2-22, that's reasonable scoring whatever way you look at it. We had 1-16 at half-time we ended up with 1-6 in the second half, so from a scoring point of view, not that happy with that.

“Our forward play was nice, but our conversion rate and that kind of stuff is not something we would be worried about in March at all, so it's not a big deal.” 

Their conversion rate wasn’t bad, the Rockies finished with a shooting accuracy of 60%, posting 13 wides. Fr O’Neill’s were more clinical with a 67.7% accuracy and only nine wides, but they posted only six different scorers.

Next up for the Rockies are Glen Rovers on Friday, April 3, while O’Neill’s take on east Cork opponents Carrigtwohill on the same day.