Erins Own 1-30 Kilshannig 3-20 AET
Outstanding game. An absolute cracker. A great advertisement for junior hurling in Cork. Funnily enough, I also went to the Munster Junior A Final today between Ballygiblin and St. Kieran's and thought that the county final tonight was a much higher standard of hurling.
What an achievement for Erin's Own's second team to win a Junior A County. A great little club. Kilshannig will be sick though. I thought they had loads of chances to extend their lead and win it but squandered some of them. Erin's Own on the other hand had only one wide in all of normal time. Serious accuracy. Maybe it is my North Cork bias, but I thought the referee was much more lenient on giving frees to EO than Kilshannig. Mark Collins must have scored 16 or 17 points from frees. The same ref rode Ballyhea this year v Courceys.
Jack Twomey was superb again for Kilshannig. He is strong, good in the air and knows how to score. I still feel, he'd be worth a call up to the training panel. Mark Collins was definitely MOTM though. He must have finished with 0-20 points. Shane Murphy is some servant too, still as fit as ever in midfield. He must not be far off 40. Bill Curtin centre back for Kilshannig also had an excellent game.
Ballygiblin 3-12 St. Kieran's 0-11
As I said above, I also went to this game earlier today and it was a very poor affair. St. Kieran's were teak tough but had little hurling and seemed to have brought Ballygiblin down to their level because I thought they were very poor. I thought both Mark Keane and Darragh Flynn were very quiet. Both didn't stand out at all. I don't think Flynn scored at all, maybe 1 point. Shane Beston saved the day scoring 3-3, winning MOTM and he only got married yesterday. What a story and what a servant he's been to both Ballygiblin and Mitchelstown. A weekend he will never forget. I still tip Ballygiblin to push on and win the All Ireland in this. Last year's experience will help them greatly.