Premier SHC: Champions Sarsfields march on with victory over Douglas
Sarsfields' Craig Leahy looks to get past Douglas’s Jack O’Brien in Sunday's Co-op SuperStores Premier SHC game at Páirc Uí Rinn. Picture: Noel Sweeney
Reigning county champions Sarsfields made it safely through to the knockout stages of the Co-op SuperStores Premier SHC with a nine-point win over Douglas at Páirc Uí Rinn on Sunday.
While permutations made for lots of moving parts in the other sections, Sars’ situation was fairly straightforward in Group 2: top spot was gone to Charleville before a ball was pucked but any victory for the Riverstown side would secure second place.
It did take them a while to find their rhythm: Douglas led early and while Sars were two ahead by half-time, the city side tied matters with a pair of Shane Kingston points on the resumption.
However, that was followed by seven points on the trot, Daniel Hogan impeccable from placed balls. Douglas did hit back with two from Kingston and one by his brother Conor but on 47 minutes Sars sub Luke Hackett marked his arrival with a goal, set up by James Sweeney and Ben Nodwell, and it had an air of being definitive.
They had moved eight in front after Cian Darcy’s point on 53 when Hogan’s good work allowed centre-back Cillian Roche a sight of goal and he drilled a shot to the net.
By this stage, Douglas’s greater concern was the size of the margin as Newcestown were on their way to securing a draw with St Finbarr’s. While goalkeeper Donal Maher did make a great late save to deny Hackett another Sars goal, the nine-point deficit at the end meant Douglas finished four points worse off than Newcestown and must face Fr O’Neill’s in the relegation play-off.
For Sars, the challenge is a quarter-final with Kanturk – after losing their opener to Charleville, manager Johnny Crowley had said that the holders were on a knockout footing and they will progress with two victories under their belt.
Despite going into an early 1-1 to 0-2 lead after a superb goal from Cathal McCarthy, captain Jack O’Connor the provider, Sars conceded six of the next seven points, Shane Kingston buzzing for Douglas while Cillian O’Donovan showcased his long-range shooting ability with a pair of points.
There was never a sense of panic from Sars, though. Shane O’Regan landed two points in a minute, Hogan had a free and then goalkeeper Ben Graham picked out Craig Leahy with a superb puckout and the wing-back fired over to give them the lead, 1-6 to 0-8.
While O’Connor’s first of the day was answered by two from Douglas’s Ronan Dooley, James Sweeney laid on another for the skipper and Darcy sent them in leading by two.
Two from Kingston, one a free, wiped out that deficit on the restart but Sars soon settled once more, with Daniel Kearney bringing his experience to beat around the middle. By the three-quarter mark, Sars had a commanding 1-16 to 0-12 advantage and the late goals buttressed their advantage to give safe passage to the knockout stages.
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