St. Finbarr's manager Tony Leahy believes the city club have surpassed all expectations by qualifying for tomorrow's Cork SFC final against Clonakilty. Leahy recalls how retaining their senior status was the 'Barr's main ambition at the outset of 2009. "At the start of the year, that was the furthest thing from our minds. We just wanted to get over our first game, against Carbery Rangers, which we did. "That win secured our senior status for the next two years, which was what we wanted - the last thing we needed was another dogfight," he said, referring to their relegation battle in 2007. Leahy was a key player for St. Finbarr's when they last lifted the senior football title in 1985, but he points to significant differences between that team and the current crop, whose only county player is Michael Shields. "Back then, we had inter-county players all over the pitch but it's slightly different now. We have a young crop of players coming through and a group of older lads as well - Dad's Army and a little army, if you like - but back then, we just had a team that went out and played football. That was just the way it was." Given Michael Shields' involvement in last Sunday's All-Ireland final, Leahy is disappointed that the Cork full back hasn't been given an extra week to recover. "We looked for October 4 and so did Clonakilty. The board wouldn't agree to it and that was it. "We would have welcomed another week and so would Clonakilty. In our case we only got our hurlers back last Tuesday night week, so it would have suited us. But we certainly won't be using it as an excuse if we lose." The manager admits to knowing very little about tomorrow's opponents: "We haven't seen an awful lot of them. "What we did see of them was probably in a Kelleher Shield game against them back in June - a great game of football. "We got an early goal and they missed one or two chances. It was a grand open game and I'd be expecting the same tomorrow. They'll try to play football, we'll try to play football and hopefully football will be the winner." Tweet

Most Read Stories