Premier SHC: Johnny Crowley satisfied as Sarfields win first 'knockout' game

Across six previous campaigns under the round-robin system of the Co-op SuperStores Cork Premier SHC, Sarsfields had only had one opening defeat.

That came in 2022, against Blackrock – and that season was the only one of the six where the Riverstown club had not managed to make the knockout stages.

It meant that, following a loss to Charleville in Castletownroche in this year’s first match, the reigning champions were left with nothing in the way of a margin for error as they travelled to Mallow for Saturday’s clash with Newtownshandrum.

Thankfully for Johnny Crowley’s side, they came out on the right side of the win-or-bust scenario, triumphing by 4-21 to 4-14 to put themselves back in contention for a quarter-final spot.

For the manager, it was a case of being on a do-or-die footing.

“The main thing was to win, there's no beating around the bush there,” he said.

“I suppose, coming into the game, it’s knockout for us from now on. We realise this game was a must-win game and the next game is a must-win game, so we're trying to prepare likewise for that.

“I'm delighted to get the win and it puts us in a position now to go home and get the homework done and come to Páirc Uí Rinn in two weeks' time and kick on and see can we put ourselves in a position to be in the last eight.

“So that's simply where we're at.”

Goals from Ben Nodwell and James Sweeney (two) helped Sars to a 3-12 to 0-7 half-time lead but, while Barry O’Flynn netted in the second half, they did have to contend with a Newtown fightback and when Tim O’Mahony got their fourth goal in injury time, the lead was down to just four.

Sars remained composed and reeled off three points to make sure of victory.

They go into the game against Douglas on two points, with the city side one behind and needing a victory. While Newtown could still theoretically qualify, it would involve a Douglas victory and scoring-difference turnaround.

For Sars, the key thing is that their destiny is in their own hands. Was it tough to deal with the pressure since the Charleville defeat?

“There's always pressure when you lose the first game,” Crowley said.

“There's no question about that and there's pressure from everywhere, really.

“You have your outside voices and you have your own demons in your head and stuff like that, so there's pressure everywhere.

“Ultimately you start training in January and February to get out of the group, so when you lose your first game, it mounts pressure on that ambition.

“We trained hard and we've done a lot of work and we've probably changed things up.

“I suppose, for 35 minutes, we were very, very good, but obviously Newtown are going to come, they had a bit of a wind. We managed to win by seven points at the end of the day but we do realise that that second-half performance won't be good enough against Douglas.”

Saturday did show the depth available to Crowley and his management team, as the starting 15 showed six changes from the opener.

Some of the absences were enforced due to injury, and while they were compensated for against Newtown, Crowley would enjoy being able to choose from a full squad.

“To be honest, it's not a luxury in my head,” he said, “because you're craving to have a full-hand to play with.

“We were down four major players today in Killian Murphy, Bryan Murphy, Conor O'Sullivan and Danny Hogan – not alone are they brilliant players, but they're brilliant organisers and they're brilliant leaders.

“They were a huge loss; now, to be fair, the lads coming in did well – it was a first game in 12 months for Cathal Mac and James Sweeney and that should bring them on and it's good to see Danny [Kearney] and Luke Elliott as well.

“Ultimately, to answer your question – no, I'd love to have everybody but unfortunately we're not going to have that either against Douglas.

“But, look, we have what we have – we have a great bunch of lads, they're working hard.

“There's a great competition for places within the group and within the team and we’ll work from there.”