SAHC: Brendan O'Riordan hails versatility of Peter O'Shea as Erin's Own advance to final

While nine points separated the sides in the end, Erin’s Own’s victory over Watergrasshill in Saturday’s Co-op SuperStores SAHC semi-final was far from easy.

Leading by two points after a closely-fought first half, the Caherlag side had pushed four clear early in the second period when a goal from sub Shane Irwin gave them a considerable cushion and from there they pushed on to win by 1-22 to 0-16.

Manager Brendan O’Riordan agreed that, in a game like that one, the first goal was always likely to carry extra weight.

“Yeah, definitely,” he said.

“I think there was one or two moments in the first half where it looked like we were going to get in and get a goal and I think that was definitely going to create the separation between the two teams and kind of create that gap and give a team an advantage.”

Full-forward Irwin had been introduced as a sub when centre-back Oran O’Regan was forced off injured.

Back to defence went wing-forward Peter O’Shea, playing a key role in ensuring Erin’s Own retained control.

“It's something that we had prepared for,” O’Riordan said, “in the sense that, in challenge games at different stages, we put Peter in there.

“Oran did have a hamstring injury going into the first round against Na Piarsaigh and we weren't really sure whether he'd be right or not, it was going to come down to the wire, so we had played Peter there.

“When he was younger, Peter played full back and then he went on to the Cork minors and they put him in midfield, but it probably is a natural position for Peter more so than in the forwards – he's kind of more in the forwards because of the mix of players that we have and trying to get the right balance but you can see he's a natural, he's a very similar player to Oran.”

It was a collective effort in defence, with the retention of the clean sheet ensuring the Hill were kept at bay.

“Obviously, everybody knows their main scorers, between Brendan Lehane, Adam Murphy and Seán Desmond,” O’Riordan said.

“They had 90 percent of their scores, so it wasn't even so much keeping it close, it's like, can we get to the pitch of the game, can we implement the kind of things we're working on in training and can we start to flow a little bit, like, especially in the forwards.”

“Our defence has been really good all year. We haven't conceded a goal in the championship and you could see it there in the dying minutes of the game, there was bodies on the line.”

It leaves them with a final to look forward to against neighbours Carrigtwohill, with O’Riordan looking forward to the challenge.

“Yeah, it'll be another tough battle,” he said.

“Carrigtwohill have done fantastically to get to the final without Seán Walsh, and no doubt they'll be really buoyed by that and they'll be in great spirits and they'll believe that they can come through it.

“They've come through some really tough games. The game against Na Piarsaigh in the quarter-final was a ding-dong one and it looked like they were out of it and they hung in there

“They’re a very good team.”