Steven Sherlock kicks incredible 18 points in thrilling Barrs extra-time victory over Clon
When the game was slipping away and St Finbarr's looked dead and buried, Steven Sherlock refused to blink.
In a sensational display that bordered on the surreal, Sherlock kicked 0-18 – dragging the Barrs from six points down to extra-time glory in Friday night's epic McCarthy Insurance Group Division 1 Football League final at Ballygarvan.
And when the moment called for someone else to deliver, John Wigginton Barrett answered – intercepting a loose pass, finishing a flowing move, and crashing home a stunning goal in the 78th minute to snatch victory from a relentless Clonakilty.
Sherlock was the heartbeat, the metronome, the match-winner. His third-quarter burst – eight points in barely 10 minutes – completely flipped the game on its head. Dragging the Barrs back from a six-point deficit, Sherlock put them in front with five minutes of normal time to go.
It looked like they had done enough, but Darragh Gough sent over a pressure free in the sixth minute of added time to level the game for the fifth time and force extra-time.
In extra time, Ben Ridgeway pushed Clon in front. Sherlock hit back. The trading continued. Level still after 76 minutes, 0-20 to 2-14. Until John Wigginton Barrett did brilliantly to intercept a Daly back pass from a free with two minutes remaining.
He offloaded to Maguire. He picked out Cian O'Sullivan in the corner. Wigginton Barrett continued his run. He was there to receive the pass from O'Sullivan. Through on goal, he made no mistake – rifling a shot into the top corner to send the Barrs two clear and their supporters into raptures.
Clon could find no way back.
Earlier, Gough's palmed goal in the 44th minute had stretched Clonakilty's lead to six and left the Barrs staring at defeat. But Sherlock's response was emphatic, turning the game on its head in a dazzling fourth-quarter spell. With five minutes to go in normal time, the Barrs led 0-17 to 2-10.
They might have sealed it in regulation, too. After a 16-pass move sparked by a Maguire turnover, the midfielder teed up Thomas O'Keeffe, only for Maurice Shanley to make a sensational block on the line.
Clon wouldn't lie down. Tom Clancy and David Lowney stood tall, Ridgeway won the vital free, and Gough duly converted to bring the game to extra time.
The opening half had been a far quieter affair, more reflective of pre-rule change football – just five points in the first 15 minutes, and only one from play.
In that first half, Clon goalkeeper Mark White kicked three 45s, while Maguire assisted Sherlock twice for points and won a free that his former Cork teammate converted.
From 0-6 to 0-3 after 21 minutes, the west Cork side pushed back, to draw level with 26 minutes elapsed. Parity would remain at half-time. And again at the end of the game.
But extra-time took on a life of its own.
Scorers for St Finbarr's: S Sherlock 0-18 (1 tp, 2 tpf, 0-7 f), J Wigginton Barrett 1-0, B O'Connell 0-2.
Scorers for Clonakilty: D Gough 1-3 (0-1 f), L Griffin 1-1, M White (3 45s), D Ó Sé 0-3 each, R Mannix 0-2, C Daly, T Clancy, B Ridgeway 0-1 each.
ST FINBARR'S: D Newman; S Ryan, A O'Connor, J Kennefick; B O'Connell, J Burns, E Dennehy; F Crowley, E Comyns; C Doolan, J Wigginton Barrett, A Lyne; C Barrett, S Sherlock, I Maguire.
Subs: L Hannigan for Comyns (10 inj), B Hennessy for Kennefick (41), C O'Sullivan for Barrett (50), T O'Keeffe for Lyne (52), Lyne for O'Connell (60+2), O'Connell for Hannigan (65).
CLONAKILTY: M White; C Kenneally, D Darragh, D Lowney; M Shanley, T Clancy, J O'Mahony; D Ó Sé, B Ridgeway; R Mannix, D Gough, S McEvoy; L Griffin, C Ustianowski, C Daly.
Sub: B White for Ustianowski (37)
Referee: Ciarán Murphy (Glanworth)
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