Sarsfield’s 1-23
Imokilly 0-25
Midleton 1-17
St Finbarr’s 0-18
EAST CORK RIVALS Midleton and Sarsfields will clash in the final of the Co-Op Superstores Cork Premier Senior Hurling championship as they both relied on late goals in Páirc Uí Chaoimh to help book their places in the decider in a fortnight.
Ben Cunningham’s sixth point of the game seemed to have put the Barr’s back into the final as it put his side into a 0-17 to 0-16 lead with time up.
Then a long delivery from Conor Lehane, who scored 0-9, 0-8 of which came in the second half, was broken by Luke O’Farrell and finished to the net by Cormac Beausang to turn the game on its head. Ethan Twomey did bring the margin back to the minimum, but Midleton goalkeeper, Brion Saunderson, then landed a point from his own ’45 to make it three finals in six years for the Magpies.
Saunderson also did well to deny Conor Cahalane a goal earlier in the half as the Barr’s will be left to rue that miss and two other golden goal opportunities that they spurned.
Midleton will be grateful for the intervention of Eoin Moloney, who disposed Jack Chalane when a goal seemed inevitable, while Lehane and Tommy O’Connell thundered into the game in the second half.
Cathal McCarthy was the hero for Sars as he hit 0-5 in extra time to book his side’s spot in the final for the first time since 2015. Shane O’Regan and Aaron Myers also pointed in the extra twenty minutes and though Will Leahy did slap over four frees for Imokilly, they couldn’t get the score they needed to force penalties as Eoin Davis’s late Hail Mary free drifted wide.
That extra time would be necessary seemed extremely unlikely when Barry Lawton put Imokilly 0-18 to 0-14 clear in injury time of normal time. Aaron Myers tapped over a free to keep the game alive before an angled free from McCarthy was forced over the line by his old school mate, Luke Elliott, to give Sars a second chance that they perhaps didn’t deserve but were intent on taking.
They did start well and led by 0-6 to 0-1 after 15 minutes with Jack O’Connor and Colm McCarthy prominent. Imokilly gradually ate into the lead and trailed by two at the break with Mike Kelly accurate from frees and Diarmuid Healy impressing. The divisional side were level with 15 to go and when they took the lead thereafter, a win seemed inevitable.
McCarthy and Elliott had other ideas, however.
Scorers for Sarsfield’s: Aaron Myers 0-7 (0-2 free, 0-2 ’65), Cathal McCarthy 0-5, Luke Elliott, 1-0, Jack O’Connor, Brian Murphy, Killian Murphy and Colm McCarthy 0-2 each, Shane O’Regan, Cian Darcy and Daniel Hogan 0-1 each
Scorers for Imokilly: Mike Kelly 0-7 (all frees), Will Leahy 0-4 (all frees), Séamus Harnedy and Diarmuid Healy 0-3 each, Barry Lawton, and Bill Cooper 0-2 each, Eoin Davis (free), Brian Lawton, Sean Desmond and Jack Leahy 0-1 each.
Scorers for Midleton: Conor Lehane 0-9 (0-2 ‘65s, 0-5 frees), Cormac Beausang 1-1, Brian Saunderson, Eoin Moloney, Seán O’Leary Hayes, Mikey Finn, Luke O’Farrell, Ross O’Regan and David Cremin 0-1 each.
Scorers for St Finbarr’s: Ben Cunningham 0-6 (0-2 ‘65s, 0-3 frees), William Buckley 0-4, Ethan Twomey, Brian Hayes and Conor Cahalane 0-2 each, Eoghan Finn and Billy Hennessy 0-1 each.