SEAN POWTER WAS the stoppage-time hero as Rochestown College booked their place in the Corn Uí Mhuirí final and kept their Munster double dream alive.
The Cork school struck late to pip Killarney powerhouse St Brendan’s and set up a decider with Pobalscoil Corca Dhuibhne on 28 February.
It was Brendan’s who hit the front in Mallow and Ronan Buckley’s goal shortly before the break helped them into a 1-5 to 0-5 lead.
Two quick points after the restart stretched their lead to five but they were held scoreless until the closing minutes as Rochestown rallied with a vengeance.
They fired 1-4 without reply, capped by Daniel Meaney’s goal in the 52nd minute following some good work by Shane Kingston.
That put them ahead by 1-9 to 1-7 but Brendan’s, 20-time winners of this competition, weren’t done and drew level in the first minute of stoppage time.
It looked set to finish all square before Powter ventured forward from wing-back to kick the winning score and set up a massive week for Rochestown who face Thurles CBS in their first-ever Harty Cup final on 21 February before the football decider a week later.
They will have their work cut out for them against a Corca Dhuibhne side who continued their bid for four-in-a-row with a six-point win against Clonakilty.
Only a point separated the sides after a nip-and-tuck first half in Knocknagree, Corca Dhuibhne leading 0-5 to 0-4.
Clonakilty stuck to their task after the restart and only trailed by two with 10 minutes to play before the champions pulled away.
Corn Uí Mhuirí semi-finals
- St Brendan’s (Killarney) 1-9 Rochestown College 1-10
- PS Chorca Dhuibhne 0-12 Clonakilty CC 0-6
This is a great opportunity to try something different and not have the usual opposition of the old school diehards who dont want change.
The idea of an open knockout championship sounds great I think and would give teams a shot of a dream run. If I’m from Kildare or Fermanagh, I would be much more motivated for championship as you go from 7 games (minimum) to an All Ireland final to 4 games..
@Lad: until those old school diehards stop getting voted onto county/provincial boards, provincial championships are here to stay.
@Lad: Would that not bring us back to why the qualifier system was introduced. 16 teams would only get 1 game. I’d be in favour of a champions league style group format, ran for 2 years, and then split into 2 separate championships, retaining that format. Have a system for promotion and relegation. It’s a lot of games for players though, which may make it a hard sell.
Open draw, try it once. Can u imagine if Kerry got Dublin in killarney in football or tipp v kilkenny in thurles..in first round ties..the buzz would be unique.
@jay bernard: would they allow supporters at the match?
Look, it’s best to just forget about the league, and I’m not just saying that because we may be relegated (‘ ‘) ….
@Logan Shepherd: “May”
@Logan Shepherd: please god forget about the league
@my name: Ah .. if it was May, I’d say go ahead and finish it, but it’s nearly the end of June :-)
Always thought brollys idea of 8 groups of 4 teams with top two play knockout for A all Ireland bottom two play in b all Ireland. Everyone gets 4 games and everyone has chance for a all Ireland. Entails for far more excitement
Yeah, what most of us have wanted for years… provincial championship in football is a joke, Ulster aside. You can’t keep the current provincial set up based on one province alone