Main talking points as Glen Rovers claim senior honours again
Rhys Dunne of Glen Rovers, centre, celebrates with teammate Patrick Horgan, 14, during the Cork County Premier Senior Club Hurling Championship final match between Glen Rovers and St Finbarr's at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
This final needed something to lift it after a flat first half, and Eoin O’Leary duly obliged. The 22-year-old arrived at Páirc Uí Chaoimh as the Premier Senior’s top scorer from play and left with 2-2 added to that tally, both goals arriving in the second half as they turned it around.
His batted 37th-minute finish wiped out the Barrs’ half-time lead for good, and when Rhys Dunne picked him out on 54 minutes, the second all but settled it.
In a game where shooting was wayward on both sides – 15 first-half wides between them and the count Glen Rovers 12 and the Barrs 12 at the finish, O’Leary’s goal threat the difference between the city rivals.
At 38, Patrick Horgan remains the heartbeat of this Glen Rovers side. His 0-11 included the pair of frees that hauled his side level on the restart and a beautiful effort from under the South Stand pushed them four clear entering the final quarter.
Tomás Mulcahy’s side silenced most of the Barrs’ headline acts, as Robert Downey won his duel with Brian Hayes and Eoghan Varian did very well on William Buckley, but it was Horgan and Dean Brosnan that delivered some crucial scores from play, and not for the first time, as they secured their 28th title.
St Finbarr’s will be left bitterly disappointed not to have found the net. Cathal Hickey’s 39th-minute double save – first from Hayes, then brilliantly from John Wigginton Barrett on the rebound – came when the game was still in the balance. When things had become more desperate for the Togher men late on, Buckley wriggled through for a one-on-one chance, he was brought down by Hickey and there would be no penalty awarded by Wayne King.
Ethan Twomey’s five-point haul from midfield kept the Barrs alive until the finish, but a first final meeting of these rivals in 38 years turned on goals, and the Barrs never raised a green flag. For the Glen, three years after relegation from the top flight, the recovery is complete.
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