'We had to win' — St Finbarr's deliver under pressure against Douglas

St Finbarr’s selector Ian Keeler said his side “had to win” on Friday evening and praised the experience in the group for steadying the ship as the Barrs recovered from their opening-round loss to Carrigaline.

The Togher club produced a convincing 3-16 to 1-11 victory over Douglas in the McCarthy Insurance Group Premier SFC Group 1 Round 2 tie at Páirc Uí Rinn. The champions trailed briefly in the first half despite a strong start, but they pulled away to win by 11 points.

“We started well and we went up six points,” Keeler said post-match. 

“Then we probably lost our way a bit. We still had plenty of possession, but we snatched at a few opportunities and didn’t make as much use of the ball going forward as we should have.

“We went in two points up at half-time, playing against the wind even if it wasn’t very strong.” 

From there, the Barrs’ defensive platform took over. Keeler highlighted the second-half solidity as the decisive factor in pulling clear.

“Defensively we were very solid. We only gave away five scores in the second half and that built the platform for the lads going forward. We have to be happy with this win.” 

The noise around the Barrs after the Carrigaline defeat was unavoidable, Keeler acknowledged, but he stressed that the group’s experience meant there was no panic.

“Understandably so, given we lost first day out,” he said. 

“We spoke all week about the position we hadn’t been in before – losing the first-round game in the group – and that brings its own pressure.

“We tried to leverage the experience we have. Douglas had won their first game and were coming down here in a good place, but it was all about us. We had to win.

“You saw the likes of Ian Maguire and Steven Sherlock and the experienced lads, Alan O’Connor in defence. They set the tone all week coming into the game and they carried it into the game.” 

There was no “soul-searching” after Carrigaline, Keeler insisted, just honest assessment.

“You have to accept that at times, irrelevant of the position you’re in, if you don’t play well other teams can turn you over. Fair play to Carrigaline, they deserved it. But we’re experienced enough to know it’s all about getting out of the group.

“That was one game, this was game two, and now we move on to game three. We knew ourselves we didn’t do things right against Carrigaline. 

"Certain things we looked at we weren’t happy with, and we worked on them. But we’d never question the character of our players. We’ve seen what they’ve done over the last 10 years.” 

While it was a comfortable win in the end against Douglas, it could have been a different story had Thomas Egan not netted just before half-time to give his side a two-point lead.

“Absolutely,” Keeler said. 

“We went maybe 19 minutes without a score. Douglas had kicked scores and got a two-pointer. Getting that goal was huge.” 

St Finbarr’s now face a four-week gap before their final group-stage showdown with Mallow.

“We have a couple of injuries we hope to get back. But we also have a lot of lads playing with St Finbarr’s hurlers who have two big championship matches against Bride Rovers and Newcestown.

“They lost their first game, so they’ll be in the same position going into Bride Rovers. There’s no rest for our dual players, but we’ll manage it as best we can and work our way towards Mallow.”