Novel pairing through to county final

2010 county champions Sarsfields are back in the final once again after a two year absence after they defeated last year's beaten finalists CIT in Páirc Uí Chaoimh yesterday afternoon. Their opponents Bishopstown beat the odds for the third week in a row after they beat Ballymartle in the curtain-raiser and who would have thought that the 'town would be in their current position given that they were only one point victors in a relegation play-off replay versus Ballinhassig last year?

Thought be a beaten docket before the ball was thrown in, Bishopstown were in control from the offset with intercounty player Pa Cronin outstanding throughout. A superb defence, in particular Shane O'Neill, Diarmuid Lester and Ian Jones, was the platform for this victory and the Ballymartle forwards were simply unable to penetrate the tightly knit unit.

Brian Corry, Darren McCarthy and Barry Dwyer battled well throughout but the introduction of Bishopstown subsitutes Denis Crowley and Paul Honohan in the second half proved too much for the Riverstick side and Bishostown advanced to their first ever senior final on a scoreline of 1-13 to 0-12.

The second match was an unexpectedly flat affair given the talent on show. Sarsfields were many peoples favourites heading in to the game but there was a feeling that if anyone could beat them, it was CIT. The loss of Aidan Walsh to a hamstring injury proved costly to the students and it took just ten minutes for Sarsfields to take a significant lead following two goals from Kieran Murphy and Robert O'Driscoll and from there they never looked like coughing up their lead.

CIT looked to be on the verge of a comeback after a promising start to the second half with Stephen Daniels, Stephen White, Colm Casey and Lorcan McLoughlin all hurling well but in the end it was Sarsfields who had all the answers. Cian McCarthy was deadly from placed balls and the full back line of Darren Kenneally, Joe Barry and Conor O'Sullivan was immense throughout and they held out for a 3-11 to 0-14 win. A special mention however to CIT full-back Mark Ellis who lined out with his club Millstreet at 2.30pm and then played for CIT at 5pm and had an admirable performance considering.

Camogie heartbreak

There was heartbreak for the Cork camogie team who were beaten in the All-Ireland final yesterday by Wexford who won their third title on the trot. Ursula Jacob had an outstanding match for Wexford, notching 2-7 of her sides total.

In what was considered to be one of the better All-Ireland camogie finals in recent times, Cork were more than able to match Wexford but ultimately, it was Jacob's scores that were the difference and Cork will have to wait another year to win back the O'Duffy Cup. The final score was 3-13 to 3-6 with Jenny O'Leary top scoring for Cork with a personal tally of 0-4.