The Seandún division board officer Derry Murphy had a joke to share with the fine crowd attending  MacSwiney Cup Final, as he handed over the cup to winning captain Eoin Murnane.   Noting from the cup that this was the ninth consecutive win for White’s Cross in finals of this competition, he quipped that the club will be allowed to hold onto the cup if they win it for the next two years! 

Early on in this encounter at Lough Rover’s grounds, it looked as though they would be under pressure to hold onto this crown, as a physically strong Barr’s outfit had the White’s Cross defence under serious pressure.  However at the other end of the field the Cross forwards also looked lively, with full forward Edwin Buckley proving a real handful for the Barr’s defence.  It was nip-and-tuck, and point for point, for most of this half, but the Cross did manage to get the two big breaks – goals from Buckley and Donnacha Murnane.  The Barr’s did try shoring up their defence, making a number of positional changes, but they still had no answer to these two well worked scores.  Buckey’s goal came from a pinpoint 40 yard pass from midfielder Conor Buckley on 18 minutes, while Murnane finished in style as he reacted well to a breaking ball five minutes later.  When the Barr’s tried to open up the Cross defence in a similar fashion they found full backs John O Connell and Sean Murnane difficult to breakdown, while outside them Cian Smith and Dylan Burke were breaking up an amount of play.  This all meant the Cross had the comfort of a 2-5 to 0-5 half time lead.

White’s Cross knew they could not afford to sit back on this lead against the divisional champions, and thus were out of the blocks right away at the start of the second half.  The switch of Kevin Buckley and Murt Kelleher certainly worked as both players exerted huge pressure during this period.  Sean Keane and Paul O Sullivan also proved able to take their scores while Edwin Buckley continued his exhibition of fine finishing.  When the Barr’s did break upfield they found Sean Gorman and Paddy O Brien were mopping up time and again, meaning Billy Sheahan had a particularly quiet second thirty minutes.  The Barr’s did continue to try to get their game going but they found this Cross side in particularly determined frame of mind.

In his captain’s speech Eoin Murnane praised the White’s Cross selectors Michael O Callaghan, TC Buckley and manager Finbarr Kiely.  Since returning to manage White’s Cross in 2006, a team he previously managed in the early 1990’s, Kiely has led this team to fifteen junior A finals in the six year period – of these they have won thirteen, drawn one and lost one.  It need not be pointed out to any member of this squad that the one failure was the biggest prize of the lot, a one point defeat to Cloyne in the 2010 County Final.  Still they are eager it seems, to continue to hold their grasp of the MacSwiney Cup for another while yet and doing their very best to find a permanent home for this trophy!

Team

Billy Sheahan,
Sean Murnane,
John O Connell,
Sean Gorman,
Paddy O Brien,
Eoin Murnane (captain),
Cian Smith,
Murt Kelleher,
Conor Buckley,
Dylan Burke,
Kevin Buckley,
Paul O Sullivan,
Donnacha Murnane,
Edwin Buckley,
Sean Keane.

Subs: Stuart Kiely, Brian Murphy & Conor Kelleher for D Murnane, S Murnane & P O Sullivan (all 45 mins),

Breandan Murnane for C Buckley (48 mins),

Michael Osborne for J O Connell (50 mins), Cormac Manning, George Osborne.