In a game that so easily could’ve slipped away from them, St Finbarr’s perseverance and big-time plays guided them past Clonmel Commercials.
The county-final success against Nemo Rangers was built upon their towering midfield options. For 57 minutes on Saturday, Commercials had the upper hand in that department.
The Tipperary kingpins set their stall out by going long with their kick-outs. They won the majority. From those seven first-half possessions, Commercials scored 1-5.
Up until the closing stages, Barrs had only managed to wrestle three restarts away from Clonmel targets. That simply underlines the dramatic turnaround which occurred for a finish.
In the space of three minutes, the Togher side stole four consecutive Commercials’ kick-outs and fired over the final four points of the game.
Switched out of his initial full-back assignment, Alan O’Connor secured two of those valuable possessions to turn the tide.
Dylan Quinn and Eoin McGreevy also came up with important breaks. From there, William Buckley was the game-changer, driving forward with ceaseless energy.
The Cork hurler had a hand in each point down the stretch, scoring two, assisting one, and setting the platform for the other.
If he doesn’t get more game time under Ben O’Connor, John Cleary would gladly have him.
Ian Maguire also kept motoring. He laid on the go-ahead point for super-sub Cillian Myers-Murray and fisted over the insurance score to book a home semi-final against Éire Óg Ennis on Sunday.
Notably, while Commercials were effective on their kick-out, they were exposed by the Barrs when they didn’t win possession.
That happened seven times across the match. The Barrs scored off all seven of those attacks, kicking a pair of two-pointers and five white flags for a 0-9 return. That was where they won the game.
Each time they won an aerial contest, the ball was transferred forward with urgency. Normally, that meant picking out Buckley at the first possible opportunity. For six of those moves, the ball was worked to Buckley on the left flank within three passes.
Their first big surge, kicking four points between the ninth and 11th minutes, came from a couple of kick-out wins.
After Brian Hayes’ point, Quinn won the subsequent kick-out break and quickly moved the ball forward, via Buckley, for an Ethan Twomey point.
St Finbarr’s Ethan Twomey fires at goal against Clonmel Commercials in the Munster GAA Football Senior Club Championship match. Picture: Chani Anderson.
When Maguire won possession from the restart, the ball was switched crossfield to the same Quinn-Buckley channel.
The wing-forward danced past his opposite number before laying off to the advancing Maguire, who teed up the two-point set play for Steven Sherlock.
Only one kick-out they stole didn’t go through Buckley. That was because it directly resulted in a scoreable free-kick after a 50-metre advancement for dissent.
St Finbarr’s accuracy was the critical difference between the teams. While Commercials converted just 48% of their shots, the Barrs nailed 71%. A total of 1-17 from 21 attempts.
Captain Sherlock contributed 0-9, including three two-pointers.
It will rank high among Commercials’ regrets that his two orange-flag frees were advanced 50 metres; one for not handing the ball back, and one for dissent towards the linesman.
It was also noteworthy that while Sherlock chose to take those frees outside the arc, when presented with a similar option, Commercials kicked the simple one-pointer rather than risk the two.
The hosts controlled the play for much of the second half, but dropped three shots short and sent two wide in their first six attempts. All this while handing Sherlock four points on the cheap.
A hint of over-conservatism perhaps infiltrated their play for a finish. Before that four-point winning burst, Commercials held onto possession for two minutes and 40 seconds but failed to get off a shot.
For all that, the Barrs still had to survive a helter-skelter goalmouth scramble in the final play. Peter McGarry and three Kennedys, Jack, Colman, and Seán, each lashed a shot into the blue wall. Each time, they were repelled.
Hayes got in the way of two, goal-scorer Conor Dennehy blocked another, and Sam Ryan took a sore one in the game’s final act of defiance.
County-final man of the match Hayes also came up with a handful of big attacking moments for the Barrs. He stole a seemingly lost kick-out to start the move for the 25th-minute goal, and it was the midfielder’s shot which Dennehy tapped in.
Incidentally, the AstroTurf goalmouth did the keeper no favours as the ball bounded away before the rebound could be prevented.
That said, after passing two pitch inspections, the Clonmel Sportsfield surface held up to play its part in a winter football classic, which saw the Barrs head home happier.
