'Hero' makes sure Lisgoold and Erin’s Own have to do it again after classic
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Just as well it finished level. For had there been a winner, all plaudits showered on them would have come second to all plaudits showered on the game itself. Both sides were outshone by the glorious spectacle they contributed to.
After Premier Senior and Senior A deciders that stunk of inevitability from a long way out, this was the first Cork hurling decider of the autumn to grab and hold you for every second of the hour-plus. It was pure and it was pandemonium. It was shapeless and soaked in suspense.
Mark Hegarty was magic at midfield for Lisgoold. Five points from play. Behind him, 32-year-old John Cronin swept masterfully. Behind Cronin, 41-year-old Kieran ‘Hero’ Murphy conjured a 65th minute equaliser for Erin’s Own.
But for all this individual brilliance, this was a final rooted in the collective and lifted by the collective. It overflowed with actors.
“A great game for the neutral, maybe not so much for ourselves,” said Lisgoold selector Mossie O’Connell.
The first free of this Intermediate A final did not arrive until the 25th minute. Scores and scorers were far more plentiful. James O’Driscoll had a Lisgoold goal inside 28 seconds. The Hero issued the Erin’s Own response 31 seconds later. They kept coming at a rate of knots thereafter.
The opening 18 minutes produced 15 scores. Each one of them from play. So noticeable too was the spread. Nine players accounted for Lisgoold’s 13 first-half scores. With corner-back Jason Hegarty and half-back Kieran Cashman among that nine, every line of the field was represented. As for Erin’s Own, their 10 flags had eight different owners.
Seventeen players on target across a thoroughly engrossing 32 minutes of fare. 1-12 to 1-9 in favour of Lisgoold.
The pace refused to relent upon the restart. The entertainment refused a break. Cathal Lenihan goaled for Erin’s Own inside 40 seconds. Scoreboard stalemate.
Alan Bowen, with the first converted free of the game on 33 minutes, shoved Erin’s Own in front for the very first time.
Lisgoold, for their part, kept raining in shots. Their wide count had an unwanted lift off. Four misses in five minutes. A change of freetakers and a straightforward free hit the post.
From the 28th to the 51st minute, the men in blue and gold managed only two points. From six in front to two behind. The championship’s form team in trouble.
“There were lots saying we were favourites and all the rest of it, but I wouldn’t have thought like that because Erin’s Own have so much experience in their team and they are a huge club compared to us,” O’Connell continued. “Erin’s Own have the blend of youth and experience, but we are there to fight another day.”
They put themselves back in a position for much more than another day out coming down the stretch.
Liam O’Shea, the brilliant Mark Hegarty, James O’Driscoll, and Diarmuid Healy struck four on the hop in an eight-minute burst. Lisgoold into a 1-18 to 2-13 lead. It was a lead they could not hold onto during the five minutes of second-half injury-time.
Bowen halved the margin in the first minute of injury-time. Murphy, in his 25th season hurling at adult level for Erin’s Own, struck the equaliser in the final minute of injury-time. Having lined out in goals for the 2000 county senior final, this is someone who continues to serve the Glounthaune club in whatever guise he is asked.
“He is a tremendous individual,” manager Brian O’Shea said of the 41-year-old full-forward.
“Come these type of stages, he is one individual you can always depend on to stand up. In the first half, he caught some incredible ball out of the air and then he delivered again by putting over what was a miraculous point. That is why he is called Hero.
“We are still there, still alive, and we’ll go again the next day.”
We'd advise everyone else to go this Sunday too. If the second instalment remotely resembles the original, you’ll get your money’s worth.
M Hegarty (0-5); J O’Driscoll (1-1); L O’Shea (0-3); D Healy, J Cashman (0-2 each); J Hegarty, K Cashman, L Walsh, I Walsh, C Hallahan (0-1 each).
: A Bowen (1-5, 0-3 frees); C Lenihan (1-2); D Twomey, K Murphy (0-2 each); S Cronin, R Blackton, T Connell, O O’Regan (0-1 each).
: C Cronin; J Hegarty, C Cashman, C Scannell; K Cashman, J Cronin, C Healy; M Hegarty, D Healy; J Cashman, L O’Shea, L Walsh; I Walsh, C Hallahan, J O’Driscoll.
Subs: T Savage for Walsh (44); C Hickey for Hallahan (50).
: T Dillon; B Nolan, P Fitzgerald, A Moynihan; D Twomey, I O’Mahony, S Cronin; C Coakley, G O’Mahony; R Blackton, A Bowen, T Connell; C Lenihan, K Murphy, O O’Regan.
Subs: S Horgan for Connell, J Kavanagh for Coakley (both HT); A O’Sullivan for Blackton (48); J McMahon for O’Mahony (58); T Connell for Murphy (temporary, 58-60).
: N Fahy (Brian Dillons).