Cork Hurling: How will Sars, Barrs and Glen Rovers react to first-round blows?

The Cork Premier Senior Hurling Championship began with a bang at the weekend with St Finbarr’s, Glen Rovers and Sarsfields all suffering reversals to ensure the weekend was chock-a-block with talking points.

In Castletownroche, Charleville were busy pulling off the shock of the round, when they took down reigning champions Sarsfields in a tight Group 2 opener by 0-21 to 0-19.

It all looked set for your standard victory for Sars at arm’s length when Barry O’Flynn clipped over a neat score in the 33rd minute to put the Glanmire men three up, but they were to go just shy of 10 minutes before Daniel Hogan registered another score for them with a free.

In the meantime, Charleville had scored five points to steal all the momentum. 

Typically, Darragh Fitzgibbon began the run with a booming long-ranger having been set up by Darren Butler, before inspirational centre-forward David Forde landed the first of his huge sideline cut points. Then Butler took on the responsibility to level matters.  Is there a finer corner-back at Premier Senior level at present than the experienced Charleville man?

Sars, led by the brilliant Conor O’Sullivan in defence, did get motoring again, but Fitzgibbon’s accuracy from long-range meant there was no way back and Charleville got to enjoy a famous victory.

Douglas and Newtownshandrum shared the spoils in the other Group 2 encounter. 

That result could help avoid the relegation trapdoor and both can have right cuts off Charleville and Sars. It would still take a huge shock for the big two not to emerge.

Someone was always going to emerge unhappy from the two box office ties of the opening round, but the manner of the defeats to St Finbarr’s and Glen Rovers, in their losses to Midleton and Blackrock, respectively, will have both clubs seriously concerned.

Over-reliant

Midleton played the Barrs off the pitch on Friday night. 

The Togher men looked disjointed, and if anything, they are suffering from a Brian Hayes problem. 

Hayes is so good that they invariably try and find him at all times. When that approach did not work, they didn't seem to know what to do, with the likes of William Buckley and Ben Cunningham not getting on the ball enough.

On the other side, the work-rate of the likes of Alex Quirke, in particular, Mikey Finn and Killian McDermott stood out, with the latter two able to pick the Barrs off from range at will, with Clare native McDermott ending the contest with six points to his name.

Bride Rovers will now really fancy their chances against the Barrs after their impressive win over Newcestown in Ballincollig. That game was nip and tuck until a Bride Rovers purple patch just before half time swung it their way. 

Bizarrely, this period began when impressive Bride Rovers midfielder Ronan O’Connell gave a tricky pass back to his own goalkeeper Cian Hogan.  Hogan dealt with it superbly and they worked it out to their commanding centre-back Cillian Tobin, who brilliantly split the posts from 90 yards out.

They goaled through a wallop of a shot from Adam Walsh soon after, before Hogan landed a huge free from deep inside his own half to ensure they had control at the break. They then piled on their dominance on the scoreboard after the break with six of the first seven scores and there was no way back for Newcestown.

The Glen looked to be in complete control against Blackrock when the Rockies found themselves down to 14-men after the red carding of Fionn Coleman in the 26th minute.

Already five down, it should have been curtains for Blackrock, but they tore into the game, with a pair of thundering runs up the middle by Tadhg Deasy getting them back into it.

In the second half, the Glen had no answer for the class of Robbie Cotter and Alan Connolly up top, with the terrible twosome tearing them apart despite being outnumbered in that part of the Páirc Uí Rinn pitch. 

There will be a lot of headscratching in Blackpool this week.

The Glen face Kanturk next time out, and the Duhallow men will have their tails up following their comfortable win over Fr O’Neill’s in Kilworth. 

If the Glen struggled against Cotter and Connolly then how will they fare against the double threat of Alan and Colin Walsh, as the cousins looked very dangerous any time they were fed? Kanturk had a dozen scorers over the course of the hour, so they have weapons all over the pitch. 

The Glen will undoubtedly be reminded of one of their darkest days in the build-up for this one, as it was Kanturk who consigned them to relegation to the Senior A grade three years ago.