Sars eventually find their feet to secure first Cork SHC title in nine years
With Long Teddy: Team Mates Noonan/sportsfile Pic: Eóin Sarsfields, Celebrates For Of Daragh Centre,
Sars never led this Cork hurling final until the 51st minute. They will not care for that minor detail. Neither will they care at how long they took to get up and galloping. Their finish was supreme.
They reign supreme in Cork again. A first title in nine years and seventh overall.
In a year that brought such sadness to the club with the untimely passing of favourite son Teddy McCarthy in early June, happier tears were shed at Páirc Uí Chaoimh this afternoon.
And while no longer with them, Teddy’s fingerprints are to be felt on this successful campaign. It was he, after all, who made the call to recruit and return Johnny Crowley as Sars manager last autumn.
Winning manager in 2010 and now winning manager in 2022. A fairytale second chapter for Crowley.
For the likes of captain Conor O’Sullivan, Craig Leahy, and Daniel Kearney, this two-point win delivered a fifth county medal into their gearbag. Their first came all the way back as kids in 2008.
O’Sullivan was making his first start of the championship. He replaced injured midfielder Killian Murphy. James Sweeney was another first-team regular who did not start because of a semi-final injury.
The subsequent reshuffle had to have an impact on their desperately tepid start. It is their barnstorming finish, though, that will be discussed around Glanmire and Riverstown long into the winter months.
From the 35th minute onward, they outscored their opponents 0-12 to 0-5. Within that were three separate three-in-a-row bursts.
From being dictated to, they became the aggressors. They were the team now horsing and harrying the opposition out of and off possession. This final had done a complete 360.
Within that third and fourth-quarter turnaround, corner-back Cathal McCarthy was sensational. After five semi-final points, he hit four here, including three in the final quarter. Daniel Kearney and Jack O’Connor also delivered big, momentum-shifting scores.
Four behind at the break, Sars were level at 0-15 apiece on 43 minutes. They were level twice more before the outstanding Aaron Myers sent them in front for the first time on 51 minutes following a foul on Colm McCarthy. Myers doubled their lead shortly after.
Ahead by 0-21 to 0-18 in the second minute of injury-time, they had Paul Leopold to thank for preserving their advantage. He got his stick in the way of a goal-bound Luke O’Farrell shot.
The first half contrast could not have been more pronounced. Midleton brought manic workrate. Sars were inexplicably casual. A casualness that on too many occasions crossed the border into carelessness. The examples of such were several.
As the clock spilled into first-half injury-time, Sars goalkeeper Donncha McCarthy played a short free to Craig Leahy. Leahy went to play another short pass to the unmarked Paul Leopold.
The pass, though, was far too lax and far too easy for Conor Lehane to telegraph. The Cork forward intercepted and pointed to push Midleton 0-13 to 0-7 in front.
It was a six-point advantage they deserved every drop of.
The third of Ross O’Regan’s first-half contribution came directly from a Conor Lehane block on a Paul Leopold attempted clearance that again lacked any bit of urgency.
O’Regan’s well-taken first on 16 minutes began a 14-minute period where the Magpies outgunned Sars 0-8 to 0-2 and included a sequence of six unanswered white flags.
O’Regan’s well-taken first saw him become Midleton’s sixth scorer. It was a spread that included defenders Sean O’Sullivan and Tommy O’Connell, and a sideline from midfielder Mikey Finn.
The contrast in contributors was also terribly pronounced.
From Jack O’Connor’s second-minute opener through to Cathal McCarthy’s injury-time white flag in the 31st minute, Sars’ six scores in the interim all came from the stick of the very lively Aaron Myers (four frees).
Sars’ two injury-time points from McCarthy and Myers’ seventh were crucial in giving them a four-point target - 0-13 to 0-9 - that was eminently chasable turning around for the second period.
It was a gap that did not reflect how off-colour they had been in the opening half.
Paul Haughney pushed Midleton out to five in front on the restart. But three wides in the first four minutes of the second half spoke to a wastefulness that would come back to bite them. Their attacking threat disintegrated.
Sars had beaten three of the last four county winners on the road to the final. Here, they completed the quartet. Deserving champions. Those above looking down would be beyond proud.
A Myers (0-12, 0-8 frees); Cathal McCarthy (0-4); J O’Connor (0-2); D Hogan, D Kearney, Colm McCarthy (0-1).
C Lehane (0-7, 0-4 frees); R O’Regan (0-3); M Finn (sideline), P Haughney (0-2 each); S O’Sullivan, T O’Connell, C Beausang, P White, T O’Leary Hayes (0-1 each).
D McCarthy; Cathal McCarthy, C Leahy, P Leopold; B Murphy, E Murphy, L Elliott; C O’Sullivan, D Kearney; D Hogan, Colm McCarthy, A Myers; J O’Connor, C Darcy, S O’Regan.
L Hackett for O’Regan (44, inj); J Sweeney for Darcy (49); B Nodwell for Hogan (temporary, 52).
B Saunderson; S Smyth, S O’Sullivan, S O’Leary Hayes; E Moloney, T O’Connell, C Smyth; M Finn, P Haughney; D Cremin, C Lehane, R O’Regan; C Beausang, L O’Farrell, P White.
P Connaughton for Cremin (45); TOLH for White (61).
C O’Regan.