Fermoy crowned Co. Premier Intermediate Football champions
Denis Hurley reflects on last Sunday’s County Premier Intermediate Football Final and looks ahead to the future for Fermoy football in the senior football championship
N many ways, it was a shame that Sunday’s PIFC final should pit together the two teams that had lost the previous three finals between them.
St Michaels, beaten in 2015 and 2017 – and 2012 before that – were taking on a Fermoy side which had lost out too Kiskeam in 2016. On the one hand, it meant that one team would be superseding that heartache by moving up to senior, but on the other you would have a team losing three finals out of four or two out of three.
Unfortunately for Michaels, they never got going on a day when 12 wides were recorded and they have now been second-best in three of the last four deciders and four out of seven when the 2012 loss to St Vincents is taken into account.
It will be of no consolation to the city side that they are the first beaten finalists to make it back to that stage the following year since Clyda Rovers were beaten in three in a row from 2009-11 inclusive.
The Mourneabbey side finally made it over the line in 2013, but that’s no guarantee that Michaels will be able to do so. In their favour is the fact that there has been no relegation from senior football this year, so the Blackrock side know that they have the beating of everyone else left in the grade, but things don’t always automatically follow like that.
The evenness of the grade is shown by the fact that none of the beaten finalists from 2012-16 managed to get to a semi-final the following year, with a hangover almost a natural follow-on.
They will face a tough winter of what-ifs as they look back on things that could have gone differently and the primary area to look at will be the poor shooting. From the off, there was a sense that their sights weren’t in. After 21 minutes, they had five wides and that was up to seven by half-time.
They never led and conceded the first three points, but even so, playing into the wind meant that was a case that, once they were in touch at half-time, they had a chance. When Liam O’Sullivan set up Eric Hegarty for an excellent Michaels’ point in the first minute of first-half injury time, Michaels were back to within three points, 0-6 to 0-3, a more than manageable deficit to try to deal with for the second period.
However, Fermoy went straight up the field and Jack Hutchings linked with his midfield partner Tomás Clancy, who sent over a huge point with his left foot to leave four in it at the break.
While there was only a point of a difference, psychologically it was a huge boost for Fermoy to be going in with a two-score lead and that Clancy got the point was also a source of balm for the North Cork faithful.
In games such as these, you want your biggest players performing at their best and providing the winning of the match and the Cork star certainly ticked that box on Sunday.
A wing-back for the county side, he was, as mentioned above, at midfield here and put in an all-action display. That was clearly shown in the second half, as Fermoy faced pressure from Michaels but always looked like being able to repel it. Their tackling and pressing were
referenced in much of the postmatch reaction and Clancy led by example.
He did put one foot wrong with a crossfield ball deep in injury time which Eric Hegarty intercepted to pop over a point for Michael’s, but it proved to be the last score of the game, Fermoy 0-11 to 0-7 ahead when the whistle finally went in the 70th minute, following the long holdup due to an injury to Michael’s wing-back Tom Lenihan.
Captain Darragh O’Carroll said afterwards that the team had to modify their tactics in recent times, having been unable to overpower every opponent they met. Having reached the 2016 final, losing to Kiskeam, they lost the first round to Newmarket last year and while they bounced back with a 2-14 to 1-13 win over Naomh Abán, another Gaeltacht side, Béal Áthan Ghaorthaidh, proved far too strong as they won by 0-20 to 1-9.
This time round, recharged
The senior grade is probably oversubscribed at the moment. The upside for Fermoy is that they won’t be outclassed when they step up
and refreshed, they hit the ground running as they put four goals past Bantry Blues in April and, when action resumed in September, they hit Kanturk for 3-8 to 0-5.
The second meeting with Bantry, in the quarter-final, was closer, as tends to be the case when the prize is in sight, and proof of the change in approach was demonstrated as they edged Naomh Abán by a point in the semi-final.
A similarly close game might have been expected in the final, but Fermoy managed to raise their game while Michaels weren’t able to match the standards they would have expected.
They will have to raise their game again now in 2019 at senior level, but O’Carroll mentioned the fruitful crop coming through from the underage structure. Allied to the championship win is the fact that they finished on top of Division 3 in the league, meaning that they will be getting a higher standard of game, against some senior sides, to help them make the step up.
The senior grade is probably over-subscribed at the moment, but that’s a debate for another day. The upside for Fermoy is that they won’t be outclassed when they make the step up.
They will be planning for it already.