Cork Hurling: What we learned from the Premier Senior Hurling quarter-finals
Darragh Fitzgibbon during the warm-up on Sunday. Picture: Jim Coughlan.
Kanturk were once again the headline act of the Premier Senior Championship as they knocked reigning champions Sarsfields out of the competition with a brilliant display of direct hurling in Mallow on Sunday.
TG4 brought the cameras down for the first quarter-final between Glen Rovers and Charleville but they would have been better advised to give star-billing to red-hot Kanturk after they dismantled Blackrock in the last round of the group stages.
Sars goalkeeper Ben Graham had to go off for treatment early on and the first thing his replacement Donnacha McCarthy had to do was pick the sliotar out of his own net after Lorcan O’Neill buried a beauty. Graham rejoined the fray very quickly only to suffer the same fate as Liam O’Keeffe rifled it past him for Kanturk’s second goal in the 11th minute.
Kanturk will have been delighted with those two majors as they were achieved despite their main danger man Alan Walsh well-shackled by Eoghan Murphy in the first half. If Sars had kept him under wraps in the first half, the second half was very different as Walsh quickly grabbed one great goal and then caught another high ball to set up brother Colin for another.
They were needed as Sars were flying in the third quarter. Cathal McCarthy and Jack O’Connor were scoring at will during this period. It was important that Kanturk kept the scoreboard moving at the other end and two Brian O’Sullivan frees in the 45th and 47th minutes were crucial.
Cathal McCarthy landed a fifth classy point in the 58th minute to reduce the gap to two, only for Alan Walsh to come up with another huge moment as he grabbed another long ball and won another crucial free that O’Sullivan gleefully converted.
Colin Walsh came up with an inspirational score soon after and Brian O’Sullivan launched over a worldie soon after. Rory Sheehan and an O'Sullivan 65 put the game beyond Sars.
The Cork captain slotted a wonderful score with his first possession to illustrate just what a loss he was and they quickly reduced the gap to just six.
He pointed his third, another beauty, in the 44th minute to put five between them, but the Glen kept chipping away as a few frustrating Charleville wides meant there was never likely to be a famous comeback, despite a late goal reducing the gap. Charleville headed back up the N20 wondering what might have been if Fitzgibbon had been healthy enough for the hour.
Goals win games and the Glen now have a full-forward line to be feared, as Kanturk learned to their cost in the thriller of a group game in Castletownroche. Two brilliantly taken efforts from Simon Kennefick and Patrick Horgan ensured the Glen were always in control, while Eoin O’Leary was also an effective outlet.
Down in Midleton, St Finbarr’s faced Imokilly in the third quarter-final, leading by three points after a cagey opening half.
A lot of the Imokilly side had already been in action for their clubs over the weekend so it was no surprise to see the Barrs pull clear, with William Buckley, Ben Cunningham and co picking them off.
In the relegation final in Carrigtwohill, Fr O’Neill’s looked the sharper side in the first half with Douglas struggling against the physicality of Jason Hankard and Declan Dalton, while the likes of Kevin O’Sullivan were able to pick scores from distance.
Shane Kingston clipped over some typically fine scores, despite being well marshalled by Ger Millerick, but overall the Douglas attack lacked teeth, just as has been the case all year.
Kingston, Mark Howell and Conor O’Donovan reduced the margin to three and suddenly there was a sign of life from Douglas, only for O’Neill’s to strike for a crucial goal with 10 minutes remaining. A Tom Millerick delivery was collected by Hankard and popped to the supporting Peter Hassett off his shoulder to put daylight between the sides.
The East Cork side won by seven and they were well worth that. Douglas now drop to the Senior A grade and no doubt there will be a lot of soul searching over the winter.
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