Carrigaline stay sensible despite thrilling victory over St Finbarr's: We can't drop our standard from here

The result of the opening weekend of club football action in Cork was Carrigaline beating champions St Finbarr's.

The joyous scenes at the end of the Premier SFC clash at Ballinhassig had to be seen to be believed as the Carrigaline players and mentors rightfully rejoiced at their unexpected 1-20 to 2-15 win.

Carrigaline had a strong season in 2025, just missing out on a semi-final berth but had suffered a hammering at the hands of the Barrs. This time they delivered a superb display, carrying over the form that saw them win Division 2 of the league.

Manager Michael Meaney was proud of his players.

We played great football and came into this game from the hurt of last season when the Barrs thrashed us 2-23 to 0-10, a 19-point loss. 

"To turn that round into a two-point win shows the progress we have made in 12 months."

Last season, Carrigaline went down to Newcestown on penalties but Meaney is adamant the group are learning all the time.

“Going into this game, we never spoke about the Barrs as we just solely focused on our own game and the mistakes we made in the last campaign. This evening nobody could begrudge this win against a quality Barrs side."

The Carrigaline chief is in his fifth season with the club and seeing the work that has gone into getting the club competitive at this level.

“The lads work their socks off at training and outside of these sessions they are consistently in the gym and I think our strength and conditioning coach Aidan O’Connell, in his second season with us, is doing marvelous work with the squad.” 

After taking over in 2022, Meaney realised there was plenty of work to do in order to compete with the elite.

“We are not there yet but in my five years the lads continue to get better and better and now it’s a case of driving on as one swallow never made a summer.” 

The remaining games in the group will see Carrigaline play Mallow and Douglas but Meaney believes there will be no easy games.

“Look, there's no point in defeating a quality team like St Finbarr’s and then dropping your standard in our remaining two games so we will continue to work hard on the training ground, striving to get better.” 

Consistent

While the result was an upset, Meaney was confident beforehand they would perform.

“After getting thrashed last season, we needed to be totally focused. I thought our captain Chris O’Herlihy marshalled the defence with authority as Steven Sherlock, who got 1-14 against us last season, was restricted to six points. He held him scoreless in the closing 25 minutes.

“Make no mistake the Barrs in my book are still the team to beat in this championship but all we can do is remain focused and get more consistency into our game.” 

Trailing by three at the break with the Barrs looking in control, Carrigaline needed inspiration but Meaney believes not panicking was key.

“Our coach Kevin O’Sullivan told the players to stay composed as we were not doing too much wrong and the message was clear 'let’s go for it' as we felt the match-ups in defence were working for us.” 

Cork footballer Brian O’Driscoll had a pivotal part in this win, kicking three points.

“What can you not say about Brian only that he has brought a great attitude since coming into the club with leadership both on and off the pitch and he is key to our progress.

“We have to be realistic although it’s a huge win there is many games to be played in this championship and we will not be getting too carried away.”