Jamie Harrington seeing right signs from his Blackrock players despite defeat against Midleton

Blackrock’s RedFM Division 1 Hurling League campaign has yielded two wins from six games, and the City side are now winless in their last three after suffering defeat to Midleton on Tuesday.

But for manager Jamie Harrington, league results are not the focus, which makes a lot of what’s come from this campaign a positive. Injuries have been a persistent issue, but that front received some relief on Tuesday evening when Mark O’Keeffe, Cathal Cormack and Ryan Sweeney returned, but they were without key forward Robbie Cotter.

“Robbie, [it] would have been great to have him,” Harrington said. “Also, to be fair, there's probably four or five guys there who have probably played their first game in two months so we probably expected a bit much of them.

“We took Mark [O’Keeffe] off after 45 minutes, he was playing very well half-back. Cathal [Cormack] hasn't played in a long time, Ryan Sweeney hasn't played in a long time.

“So, they were out there but probably they didn't have much beyond 45 minutes to give. But it's good to get a game into them. We've got a couple more guys to come back too in the next couple of weeks.

If you're looking at the league from the point of view of winning a load of games, it's a disaster. 

"But when you're missing seven or eight, then seven or eight other guys play,” he added. “Diarmuid Cormack has kind of gone from being a third or fourth-choice midfielder to possibly a corner-back now, which is great for him. Sean Healy's come on a lot. Ollie McAdoo has played well.

“So we get a chance to look at lots of guys and put them under pressure. And today, it’s not championship fare but it was quick enough. So it's good for them. It's good for all of them.” 

The first half was when Midleton forged clear with the wind, and bar the concession of a couple of goals, there were plenty of positives to take from the performance, but Harrington feels they didn’t make the most of what remained of the breeze in the second period.

“I thought we were good in the first half, into a very strong wind,” he explained. “Okay, we concede two goals, one was a bit clumsy, but fine. Apart from that, I thought in the first half we were quite good.

“[We] used the ball well, got some good scores, got some good pressure and then were in the middle third. Second half, probably didn't get that same pressure when they were coming out with the ball and got a bit careless.

“It often happens when you go and turn to play with the wind that you think is going to come your way and we got down to three in the middle of the second half and in that last quarter really, we didn't produce enough in the last quarter.

ROOM TO IMPROVE

“The decision-making wasn't great, we played like a team with the wind, whereas you're generally better off playing the same way,” he explained. “Just getting more shots and making them puck it up more often, and then getting the puck-outs back.

“That's generally the best way to do it. Also, we probably had three very good goal chances and [Brion] Saunderson made three great saves. One of those goes in, who knows. But we didn't look like we were coming at any stage.”