Winning assassins strike once more

In the 55th minute, a game broke out.

An error-ridden county senior hurling final had the narrow gap on the scoreboard between the teams to thank for keeping it interesting.

Then, with five minutes remaining, a brilliant individual goal from David Mannion was followed by an instant response from Jack Lohan.

The pendulum was still swinging wildly when Nathan O’Connor thought he had ended St. Dominic’s 27-year famine in the first minute of the allotted four in injury time.

It was then that Four Roads showed the mark of champions. No panic, and a steadfast belief, and trust, in their younger brigade to finish the job.

How the fearlessness of youth responded. Brian Mannion, having earlier forced Mark Miley into his third spectacular save of the game, clipped over a point, and the sides were level.

At that stage, Dominic’s would have settled for extra time to circle the wagons. But Four Roads — for the first time in the game — had the ruthless look of an assassin.

And when Oisín Finneran was presented with a difficult opportunity on the right wing to land the winner in the 63rd minute, time seemed to freeze around King and Moffatt Dr. Hyde Park.

Suddenly, the realisation dawned that Finneran — just a couple days shy of his 19th birthday — had nailed one of the points of the afternoon to seal a 39th title for the Tisrara men and cement their “drive for five”.

The mark of a great team is their ability to win a match playing poorly. 

In this case, Four Roads weren’t allowed to get motoring on the vast expanses of Hyde Park. St. Dominic’s defenders hassled and harried, particularly joint-captain Micheál Byrne, who was magnificent. Pauric Halpin threw his body on the line to thwart Cormac Mulry — a last-gasp intervention that yielded a free and ended with Naos Connaughton grabbing his side’s opening goal in the 39th minute.

It was the spark that Dominic’s needed, but one they, ultimately, couldn’t keep lit for a sustained period of time.

Four Roads prevailed because they know no other way. Years of taking the Mickey Cunniffe Cup back to the parish hasn’t blunted their edge. Hunger levels remain ravenous. Honoring their late and former team-mate is the 11th Commandment at “the crossroads”.

By hook or by crook, they find a way to win, and that’s the difference between them and the remaining protagonists in the senior hurling championship.

It’s a mentality that you can’t teach at training. You either have it, or you don’t. As young lads, some of these players would have seen their fathers pick up county titles alongside current manager Micheál Kelly.

Every one of them meant as much as the one before it.

A new generation has taken up the baton, and now that five-in-a-row has been completed, the next generation waiting in the wings will embrace the responsibility to continue the club’s successful journey.

As one Four Roads official stated afterwards, “the Mickey Cunniffe Cup is ours, until someone takes it off us.” Consequently, it’s up to the remaining teams to catch up, something no team have done since Athleague in 2021 and Pádraig Pearses in the Covid final.

For Dominic’s, the disappointment won’t dissipate in a hurry. Defensively, they could have done no more. Up front, however, there were only fleeting moments of excellence, and that’s where the game was lost.

Mark Miley made three outstanding saves, including one from Conor Morris’ first-half penalty in injury time. Byrne was a colossus, but 2-10 won’t win too many county hurling finals.

Michael Feeley’s sending-off was unfortunate, but it didn’t really impact the game. St. Dominic’s still had everything going for them, including the elements at their back, if they were good enough.

But, on this day, they didn’t reach the heights they were capable of.

Four Roads didn’t set the world alight either, but they’re preparing for a Connacht club quarter-final against Tooreen in the Hyde in less than two weeks’ time.

It’s a familiar narrative that tactics and gameplans can influence, but don’t define.

Winning is just the Four Roads way, and that script doesn’t look likely to be flipped any time soon.