Cork Hurling: Subtle improvements have St Finbarr's well primed for championship

Four wins, four defeats and one draw, St Finbarr's finished mid-table with an evenly split record this season in the Cork Hurling League Division 1.

After reaching the decider last year and falling to Sarsfields, the Barrs finished sixth this year, falling out of league final contention after they only picked up one point in their last four games.

That came at home to Carrigtwohill in the final round of league action, a game in which they were boosted by the presence of Ethan Twomey and Conor Cahalane. But the Barrs' fall from second to sixth between last year and this year, is not anything worth reading into.

Not only for the fact that results are seldom the focus in the league, or the fact their points tally only dropped from 11 to nine, but also because they did not enjoy the availability of William Buckley this year, and it had a considerable impact on their attacking prowess.

But, of course, as with all teams, being without your best players in the league does come with its positives, too. Jack O'Kelly and Conor McCarthy, two forwards who worked their way into the picture last year, have been trusted with more game time.

And they've repaid that trust, making considerable strides.

McCarthy and O'Kelly were the Barrs' third and fourth highest scorers respectively. The former hit 2-9 in total including a point from a sideline, while O'Kelly finished with 1-10, a massive improvement again on where he was just 12 months ago. McCarthy started his championship campaign last year with their juniors and ended it as a substitute in their Premier Senior semi-final against Sars.

Both will have an important role to play in the coming months.

Ben Cunningham's position on the fringes of the Cork panel meant he was available to the Barrs more often than not, and his contribution across the first half of the season has been very impressive.

His 1-71 across seven of a possible nine appearances made up 36% of their entire scoring haul. And together with Jack Cahalane, they account for over half of what St Finbarr's scored in this year's league.

Cahalane was incredibly sharp all throughout, averaging 4.8 points per game from play, with his best hauls being 1-5 versus Sarsfields and 2-2 against Midleton.

But it was new arrival Seán Daly, who transferred from Randal Óg, that played every available minute alongside goalkeeper Shane Hurley with 565. Full-back Jamie Burns clocked the third-highest number of minutes with 438. Eoghan Finn's return has been another pleasant boost, and he picked up 188 minutes.

In total they used 33 different players across the nine games, which is on the lower side of the Division's average. Only Glen Rovers, Carrigtwohill and Charleville used fewer.

The Barrs still have Brian Hayes to come back into the picture, and he'll be a welcome boost to the team, but they've got reason to be confident heading into their championship opener against Midleton at the end of the month.

Given Midleton's form, they'll likely be slight underdogs, but that will suit the Barrs in abundance given what they've got to come back into the picture.

St Finbarr's league scorers:

Ben Cunningham 1-71 (0-45 f, 0-4 65), 

Jack Cahalane 4-21, 

Conor McCarthy 2-9 (0-1 sideline), 

Jack O'Kelly 1-10, 

Sam Cunningham 0-11 (0-7 f, 0-1 65), 

John Wigginton-Barrett 0-9, 

Rickey Barrett 1-6, 

Eoghan Finn 0-8, 

James Murray 0-7, 

Billy Hennessy 0-5, 

Ethan Twomey 0-4, 

Caolán O'Connor (0-2 f), Seán Daly 0-3 each, 

Cian Walsh, Colm Keane, David Murray, Kevin O'Flynn 0-2 each, 

Bill O'Connell, Cian Buckley, Ciarán Doolan, Eoin Keane, Rory O'Sullivan 0-1 each.

Players used and minutes accrued:

Shane Hurley, Seán Daly (565 each), Jamie Burns (438), Ben Cunningham (437), Jack Cahalane (416), Jack O'Kelly (411), Cian Walsh (378), John Wigginton-Barrett (376), Eoin Keane (374), James Murray (369), Cathal Crowley (367), Bill O'Connell (359), Conor McCarthy (342), Sam Cunningham (340), Ciarán Doolan (337), Aidan Barry (314), Billy Hennessy (250), Shane Kennedy (245), Rickey Barrett (243), Cian Buckley (239), Caolán O'Connor (191), Eoghan Finn (188), Ethan Twomey (124), Thomas Egan (94), Adam Buckley (88), David Murray (87), Kevin O'Flynn (65), Colm Keane, Damien Cahalane (64 each), Conor Cahalane (63), James Kennefick (41), Rory O'Sullivan (30), Ciarán Steele (11).