There will be a novel pairing in this year’s All-Ireland senior club hurling final at Croke Park after Na Fianna and Sarsfields came through their semi-finals on Sunday afternoon.
Sars are the first Cork club to make it through to the senior decider since Newtownshandrum in 2006, and there was a frenetic ending to their clash against Ulster champions Slaughtneil at St Conleth’s Park in Newbridge.
The sides were level five times throughout, with Cormac O’Doherty’s pair of frees in quick succession levelling the score for the final time withh five minutes to go before Sarsfields found an extra gear late on.
They went two ahead through points from Aaron Myers and substitute Liam Healy before Derry footballer and dual star Shane McGuigan reduced the gap to a single point at the other end as time ticked down.
Cathal McCarthy returned fire to restore the two point cushion before a last-gasp ball in to the Sarsfields square saw Mark McGuigan’s flick come close to rippling the net for Slaughtneil, but it went over for a point and Sars escaped with victory.
Earlier in the afternoon, Na Fianna booked their spot in a first-ever senior decider with a dramatic late win over Loughrea.
The Galway side had the upper hand for most of the game but Na Fianna stayed in it with the backing of 0-10 from Colin Currie, with his flurry of three late frees helping them into a lead in the dying moments of normal time.
There was still time for Tiernan Killeen to level it for Loughrea in the 60th minute, but a 64th minute winner from AJ Murphy saw Na Fianna seal the deal to progress.
