{"id":674355,"date":"2026-09-05T19:54:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T19:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/674355\/"},"modified":"2026-09-05T19:54:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T19:54:14","slug":"shane-barrett-fires-blarney-past-watergrasshill-to-reach-sahc-semi-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/674355\/","title":{"rendered":"Shane Barrett fires Blarney past Watergrasshill to reach SAHC semi-finals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Blarney: 0-22\u00a0<\/p>\n

Watergrasshill: 1-14\u00a0<\/p>\n

Blarney secured a direct passage to the last four of the Co-Op SuperStores SAHC after a strong start proved crucial in their five-point victory over Watergrasshill at Grenagh on Saturday evening.<\/p>\n

With qualification already rubber-stamped from Group 1, both sides arrived with the safety net in place, but the next objective was clear, claim that semi-final spot.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Any notion of a dead rubber evaporated quickly, with plenty of bite on show from the opening minutes.<\/p>\n

Blarney had beaten the Hill by 21 points when they met last year, but this contest was far tighter \u2014 a game that should stand to both as they move forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Muskerry side led by three at the short whistle and kept their opponents at arm\u2019s length throughout the second half.<\/p>\n

Blarney now have a month off before the semi-finals, while Watergrasshill face Ballinhassig at the quarter-final juncture.<\/p>\n

The Hill enjoyed a strong wind advantage in the first half, played in wet conditions with light rain throughout.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\" Watergrasshill\u2019s Daire O\u2019Leary shoots for a point as Blarney\u2019s Stephen Mullane closes in. Picture: Noel Sweeney<\/p>\n

The Imokilly men led 0-4 to 0-2 after six minutes, with Daire O\u2019Leary\u2019s long-range effort the pick of the scores. Eoghan Kirby had a goal chance for Blarney in that spell but couldn\u2019t find the net.<\/p>\n

Four Shane Barrett points \u2014 three frees \u2014 swung Blarney into a two-point lead, but Watergrasshill replied sharply with white flags from Brendan Lehane, Dylan Roche and Se\u00e1n Desmond. Blarney pushed ahead again to lead 0-9 to 0-7 on 27 minutes.<\/p>\n

A Shane O\u2019Regan free cut the gap to the minimum, but three quick-fire Blarney points from Cathal Hegarty, Stephen Mullane and Declan Hanlon opened a four-point buffer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Desmond\u2019s response left Watergrasshill 0-12 to 0-9 behind at half-time. His effort could easily have been a goal after Daire O\u2019Leary set him up.<\/p>\n

Blarney had the wind in the second half and controlled the early stages, hitting three of the first four points, with Patrick Crowley very effective in midfield.\u00a0<\/p>\n

O\u2019Regan added another placed ball for the Hill, and there was a sense they needed a goal to truly trouble their opposition. It arrived on 43 minutes when Desmond drilled to the net, making it 0-15 to 1-11.<\/p>\n

\"Blarney\u2019sBlarney\u2019s Cathal Hegarty and Watergrasshill\u2019s Dylan McCarthy battle for possession. Picture: Noel Sweeney<\/p>\n

Blarney\u2019s response was immediate, three points on the trot, two Shane Barrett frees and a Kirby effort.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The sides traded scores before another O\u2019Regan free left Watergrasshill just three behind with nine minutes remaining, 0-19 to 1-13.<\/p>\n

But Blarney never looked in bother, landing three of the last four points to seal their semi-final berth.<\/p>\n

Scorers for Blarney: S Barrett 0-11 (0-8 f, 0-1 65), M Coleman 0-4 (0-2 65, 0-1 f), C Hegarty, E Kirby 0-2 each, S Mullane, D McSweeney, D Hanlon 0-1 each.<\/p>\n

Watergrasshill: S O\u2019Regan 0-6 (0-4 f, 0-1 65), S Desmond 1-2, A Murphy 0-3, D Roche, D O\u2019Leary, B Lehane 0-1 each.<\/p>\n

BLARNEY: C Murphy; S Crowley, C Power, S Mullane; O Hegarty, M Coleman, A McEvoy; D McSweeney, P Crowley; D Hanlon, S Barrett, C Hegarty; E Kirby, P Power, C Barrett.<\/p>\n

Subs: S Mulcahy for S Crowley (17, inj), J Murphy for D Hanlon (54).<\/p>\n

WATERGRASSHILL: A Foley; S Field, D McCarthy, D Roche; R Loftus, D O\u2019Leary, K O\u2019Neill; C Cronin, A Spriggs; P Cronin, B Lehane, S O\u2019Regan; A Murphy, S Desmond, A Cronin.<\/p>\n

Subs: R Murray for C Cronin, L Foley for P Cronin (both 37), C O\u2019Leary for A Cronin (48), P O’Leary for A Spriggs (61).<\/p>\n

Referee: Shane Scanlon (Newcestown).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Blarney: 0-22\u00a0 Watergrasshill: 1-14\u00a0 Blarney secured a direct passage to the last four of the Co-Op SuperStores SAHC…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":674356,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[45615,9,10,24,18,13,14,6,19,17,11,12,15,16,5,7,8],"class_list":["post-674355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-cork-county-championship","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-cork-gaa","tag-eire","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-headlines","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117220191519403012","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=674355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/674356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}