Anthony Daly: Superb Sars show something special brewing in Cork hurling

I’ll be honest enough to say that I didn’t say that Sars would win – but I felt they could. I tipped the Gunners in these pages on Saturday but I did say that this team was past its prime. Initially, when I wrote that down, I wondered if those comments might come back to haunt me. But I still didn’t change my mind. When you’re on the road as long as some of these Ballygunner lads are, the end of the road can often come sooner than you think it will.

I’m not saying that this is the end of the road for this group but I think this could be a huge fork in that road, not just for Ballygunner, but for a raft of clubs in Waterford.

They have had the county championship in a headlock but if I’m a player from De la Salle, Mount Sion, Abbeyside-Ballinacourty, Roanmore, Passage – and a few more – I’d be thinking today: ‘Hi, are we going to keep thinking down here that this thing is a fait accompli – or are we going to start thinking like Sarsfields?’ 

Let’s be honest, the Cork side – who didn’t win their own county title - were given far less of a chance yesterday than Abbeyside were given in the county final in September.

The bottom line here was that Sars just wanted it more. There was a lack of energy and sharpness from Ballygunner but Sars just won more 50-50, and 40-60, balls throughout the afternoon.

Two incidents in particular stood out, both in the last quarter, when Shane O’Regan and Daniel Hogan won balls they had no real right to win. O’Regan scored his chance, Hogan narrowly missed his, but it was the way both Sars men won those balls – as much as what they did with that possession afterwards - that showed how much they were prepared to put their bodies on the line to win the game.

I was delighted for O’Regan. What an inspired substitution from Johnny Crowley and his management? It was his day, where everything he touched turned to gold, but Shane made it happen because he just had a cut.

It's some turnaround for Sars since the letdown of the county final but there is something special going on in Cork hurling, with Watergrasshill and Russell Rovers also winning the Munster Intermediate and Junior clubs over the weekend.

Up in Ulster yesterday, you have to hand it to Slaughtneil, who showed incredible composure and steel to reel in Portaferry when eight points down entering the fourth quarter.

You’d feel really sorry for Portaferry but they’ll be haunted by how they were hunted down. After conceding the first goal from Shane McGuigan, they just needed to keep their heads from the next play, but they left far too much space in behind their defence for the concession of the second goal straight off the Portaferry puckout.

Although Port hit back with a green flag minutes later, Slaughtneil just steadied the ship and continued to dominate possession. And they just kept shooting – and scoring. Rory O Mianán, who was a deserved man-of-the-match, was outstanding in that regard, nailing some of the best long-distance points you’ll see at any level in the last few minutes.

It might sound outlandish to say but the Derry champions nearly deserve to be favourites now heading into the semi-finals of a wide-open All-Ireland series. They certainly are the most experienced side left in the competition as only Loughrea have previous All-Ireland semi-final experience - and that was back in 2007.

Na Fianna were deserving winners in Leinster on Saturday evening, having clearly learned enough lessons from last year’s one-point defeat, but there was one clear difference between this side and the one which lost to O’Loughlin Gaels by one point last year - Donal Burke. He was outstanding. Burke and his team-mates will believe that anything is possible now - but so will everybody else.

Before yesterday, this All-Ireland was deemed Ballygunner’s to lose. And now that they’ve lost, it’s literally any one of four teams' to win.