Kilcoo reach final after titanic battle with St Finbarr's

Kilcoo 1-18 St Finbarr's 1-13 (AET)

Kilcoo needed extra time to find away past a resolute St Finbarr's to reach back-to-back All-Ireland Club Championship finals.

It was fascinating contest played at full flight and it had everything, with top scores, red cards, dramatic decisions, and either side could have won in normal time.

The Magpies could and should have wrapped up the game in normal time but indiscipline cost them in the short term, but in extra time they owned the contest by outscoring the Cork side eight points to three.

St Finbarr’s only scored one point from play after the first half, which shows that the Ulster side have something to work on. But Kilcoo will take a lot from the physical battle they had on Saturday and the hard battle should bode well ahead of the final on 13 February.

It was an open contest with both teams playing with conviction in attack and not afraid to make the hits when needed.

Eoin McGreevy and Ryan Johnston had traded points in the opening minutes and this set the tone for an excellent battle in O’Moore Park.

It was the Magpies who got off to a dream start as, with only four minutes on the clock, the unmarked Ryan Johnston couldn’t believe the time he had in front of goal before choosing the roof of the net, after brother Jerome picked him out with the pass.

Corner-back Aaron Branagan scored a beautiful point, with Conor Laverty key in the build-up and Paul Devlin converted a free, but three converted frees from the steady Steven Sherlock meant that St Finbarr’s were only a whisker behind.

And then came the breakthrough as St Finbarr’s grabbed a great goal only two minutes before half-time.

Steven Sherlock pickpocketed the ball from Kilcoo’s Daryl Branagan before releasing Eoin Coymns and he