Cotter hat-trick eased Blackrock past Fr O'Neill's, but Jamie Harrington wants more

It was a relatively comfortable affair – even if not the most polished – as Blackrock took home their second group-stage victory to leave themselves in with a strong chance of advancing straight to the semi-finals of the Cork Premier Senior Hurling Championship for the second year in a row.

But, the nature of the group stages means that their qualification is still not certain, despite the nine-point victory over Fr O’Neill’s.

“My way of looking at this is that we could be eliminated next game,” said Blackrock manager Jamie Harrington. “That's my only way of looking at this at the moment.

“Yeah, we have four points, that's all great, but you can look like an awful fool the next day if you don't go on and finish the job. So we're going to go 100 miles an hour if we can and see where it gets us.

“This is a very tight group,” he added. “Kanturk were in in the quarter-final two years ago. O'Neill’s have some very, very good players. They have three Cork Senior hurlers. But what's between us? Very little. So it's just one of those groups where every game is going to be important, but that's fine, we'll play away.” 

While the Rockies did eventually find comfort near the end of their Round 2 clash with Fr O’Neill’s, it required a second-half purple patch in which they repelled O’Neill’s aerial bombardment and profited from the introduction of fresh legs.

“We have a decent panel and it helps to have them,” Jamie remarked. “To be honest, I thought O'Neill's were excellent in the first half, but this is kind of what happens. Teams in first round, they don't go that well. There's always a kick in the second round.

“Midleton-Newcestown yesterday is a classic example of it. We were not happy at all at half time, and even now I'm not impressed with the two goals we shipped there in the last five minutes, but I thought we hurled well and we got some good scores, and the subs are a huge help obviously.

“The drop in intensity is kind of annoying, but it does happen when you go up a bit. But look, it's something we've worked on. They have an excellent goalkeeper, Deccie [Dalton]'s obviously excellent.

“Jason Hankard is normally a very good target for them as well. So we obviously were aware of this during the week, and it's something we've worked on. And breaks, on that kind of a break, they're not by accident that you win them.

“You have to be kind of organised, you have to have your hands on the balls in the air. I thought we were decent to a point, and then ultimately probably not.” 

It was a contest in which the Rockies’ scoring spread stood to them, with Robbie Cotter the standout on this occasion with 3-2, though Mike O’Halloran and PJ Linehan each scored 0-5. Alan Connolly was closely marshalled by his Cork teammate Ger Millerick, who controlled his influence.

“Alan obviously drew Ger Millerick here today. He'll get Eoin Downey on the last day against the Glen,” Harrington explained. “So you have to accept that he's not going to be your only scorer, and that's fine.

“If Alan makes a run across the field and we can get Robbie high at the back post, well then happy days.”