Cork Hurling: What we learned from Glen Rovers and Ballincollig's county final wins

Three years after being relegated Glen Rovers find themselves back as the kingpins of Cork hurling once more thanks to their thrilling second-half display to defeat St Finbarr’s in the Cork Premier Senior Hurling Final on Sunday.

Ultimately it was corner-forward Eoin O’Leary, who emerged as the headline maker with his brilliant two-goal salvo down the Blackrock End proving the difference.

This was the first final between these two great city rivals side 1988, when the Barrs won by 3-18 to 2-14 and were captained that day by Ger Cunningham, father of Ben and Sam.

The south side club had won the last four finals between the sides in 1988, 1981, 1980 and 1977.

1967 was the last time the Glen defeated the Barrs in the final, when they won by 3-9 to 1-9 and were captained that day by Sean Kennefick, grandfather of current key attacker Simon, who of course has another rather famous grandfather with Glen connections.

A quick look back at some of those finals in the '70s and '80s and names like Cunningham, Finn, Horgan and Twomey jump out from the team sheets. It may have taken 38 years to add to the story of the Barrs v the Glen, but the links remained to those times.

Sunday was an opportunity for the players of today to write their names into the history books and the likes of O’Leary duly obliged.

There were intriguing match-ups all over the pitch with both Downeys having a cut off of Barr's captain Brian Hayes in the first half under the South Stand being a particular highlight.

The game was a bit of a slow burner with both sides guilty of some erratic shooting early on. 

The Glen were on top and raced into a three-point lead but eventually Ben Cunningham and Brian Hayes thundered into the game and by the time the shirt whistle blasted the Barr's had turned their early deficit into a two-point lead.

The second half was all about Eoin O’Leary, however, with his two-goal blast propelling the northside club to victory. 

The 2021 All-Ireland minor winner had the Barrs corner-back Sean Daly in all sorts of trouble and he bagged a brilliant 1-1 before Ciarán Doolin was switched onto him. Even then, he managed to ghost in totally unmarked to collect Rhys Dunne’s excellent through ball to rattle the back of the Barr’s net.

Dunne put in a mountain of work in the Glen engine room and well deserved his round of applause when called ashore on the hour mark.

Ethan Twomey tried to lead a revival with some fine scores from midfield but the Barrs ended up three points short even though there was a scare late on when it looked as though William Buckley was about to goal, only to be crowded out by some frantic Glen defending.

The two clubs had won six finals each in the twelve times they had locked horns on county final day. 

The Glen now get to boast they are ahead in the head-to-head and the victory also ensures they remain ahead of the Barr's in the roll of honour list, as this victory was their 28th title, putting them two ahead of the Barr's.

The relegation in 2023 seems like a lifetime ago now.

Power play

In the preceding Premier Intermediate final between Ballincollig and Dungourney, 'the Village' emerged victorious with another brilliant second-half performance proving decisive.

In five games, full-forward Cillian O’Callaghan had struck a phenomenal 8-8 from play which played a huge part in helping Dungourney to reach this decider. Undoubtedly, a significant part of Ballincollig’s game plan would have centred around limiting his goal threat.

Alongside him, Jack Leahy had scored 0-39 while John Ahern had contributed a dozen scores in the knockout stage, so it was far from a one-man attack, but O’Callaghan needed shackling.

It was no surprise to see James Dwyer switching to full-back to try and curtail him and the Ballincollig captain did a terrific job. It must be acknowledged that the rest of the Ballincollig side made his task much easier as they completely disrupted the supply in.

The game was nip and tuck until Brian Keating emerged off the bench and in the 43rd minute blasted past a number of defenders before slipping it to Adam Wills to goal. 

It was some contribution from a player who is not 100% fit.

Dungourney led by one at half-time but their scores dried up in the second half, only managing three points across 28 minutes before adding a few more in garbage time. The game was gone by then.