St Finbarr's find form with impressive win over Carbery to return to last four
St Finbarr's Enda Dennehy scores a goal past Carbery's goalkeeper Liam Colbert during the McCarthy Insurance Group PSFC quarter-final at Clonakilty. Picture; Eddie O'Hare
While St Finbarr’s might have had an up-and-down experience in the group stage of the McCarthy Insurance Group Premier SFC, the performance graph is showing a timely boost.
Defeats to Carrigaline and Mallow meant that the reigning champions came through to the knockouts as the sixth of six club seeds – as with their hurlers, it meant a joust with the winners of the divisional competition and for Imokilly last Sunday, read Carbery here.
Leading by 0-12 to 0-8 at half-time after playing against the breeze in the first half in Clonakilty, the Barrs set about locking down the victory on the restart.
Less than 25 seconds had elapsed when the ball was worked to Ian Maguire near the endline and he fisted across for Luke Hannigan to palm home; less than two minutes later in a similar move, Maguire was the recipient as John Wigginton Barrett provided the assist.
William Buckley’s second point of the game, set up by the ever-active wing-back Ciarán Doolan, pushed them 11 ahead and then Enda Dennehy claimed the break from the resultant kickout before feeding Wigginton Barrett, who had advantage but didn’t need it as he produced a tidy finish low to the corner of the net.
The goalscorer added a point before Doolan almost added a fourth goal only to hit the post – they didn’t have long to wait, however, the tactic for the first two goals was repeated, with Brian Hayes laying on for Dennehy to cap his fine display with a green flag.
A double from Hayes and sub Bill O’Connell pointing with his first touch had them 4-17 to 0-8 in front, with the luxury of being able to withdraw their hurlers with an eye on the first of two semi-finals over the next couple of weekends.
Carbery did reply with a goal, Dara Sheedy finishing following good work by Matthew Sheehan and Dermot Hegarty, but a full-blown comeback was never a possibility as the Barrs’ defence was otherwise resolute.
Sub Cillian Myers Murray also got in on the scoring act while Ian Maguire landed a superb two-pointer for the Barrs, whose only late concern was an injury to Ricky Barrett as they finished with 14, their full allocation of subs having been used.
Olan Corcoran went close to a late consolation goal for Carbery but Darragh Newman did well to deny him – the Barrs taking a lot of momentum into a semi-final with Clonakilty.
They were of course favourites to make such a prospect reality, even if they were coming into the game with a record of one win and two losses whereas Carbery had beaten Duhallow and Muskerry before receiving a walkover from UCC.
With the breeze, Carbery briefly led 0-2 to 0-1 – the first of those a Sheedy shot that Newman had to tip over – but the Barrs soon took control around the middle thanks to Hayes and Maguire while Steven Sherlock showcased his firepower the Togher side’s first four points.
While Ryan O’Donovan did level at 0-6 each with a lovely two-pointer on the quarter-hour mark, Sherlock had the Barrs back in front before curling the ball over for an orange flag and then Doolan set up Buckley for his first and 0-10 to 0-6.
O’Donovan halved the deficit with another two-pointer but Sherlock replied with two more, the latter unlucky to just flash over the bar, as the Barrs retired with that four-point lead.
It was to grow exponentially after half-time, leaving them in good shape as they return to SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
S Sherlock 0-8 (1 2pt, 0-1f), J Wigginton Barrett 1-3, I Maguire 1-2 (2pt), E Dennehy 1-1, B Hayes 0-3 (1 2pt), L Hannigan 1-0, W Buckley 0-2, C Myers Murray, B O’Connell, R Barrett 0-1 each.
R O’Donovan 0-6 (2 2pt, 0-1 45), D Sheedy 1-2, R Deane, O Corcoran, O O’Donovan 0-1 each.
D Newman; S Ryan, F Crowley, C Scully; D Quinn, A O’Connor, C Doolan; I Maguire, B Hayes; L Hannigan, R Barrett, E Dennehy; J Wigginton Barrett, S Sherlock, W Buckley.
C Dennehy for Scully (half-time), T Egan for Hannigan (39), C Myers Murray for Buckley, B O’Connell for Hayes, J Burns for Doolan (all 41).
L Colbert (Barryroe); L Hourihane (St Colum’s), P Collins (Randal Óg), J Collins (Ilen Rovers); P O’Driscoll (Gabriel Rangers), D Hegarty (Ilen Rovers), M Sheehan (Goleen); A Hayes (St James’), I Jennings (Kilmacabea); K Casey (Bantry Blues), D Sheedy (Bantry Blues), O Corcoran (St Mary’s); R O’Donovan (Barryroe), R Deane (Bantry Blues), K O’Driscoll (Gabriel Rangers).
S Daly (Randal Óg) for Casey, O O’Donovan (Barryroe) for K O’Driscoll (both half-time), D Twomey (Ballinscarthy) for Collins (38), S Connolly (Ilen Rovers) for Jennings, L Murphy (Barryroe) for P O’Driscoll (both 39).
R Whelan (Gleann na Laoi).
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