Although lop-sided by the conclusion, this was a game of silvery passages and refreshing openness, a fitting conclusion to a starry year for Cork hurling.
Even if Blackrock were never less than in command, the college side stuck determinedly to their pretty style and were still loosely in contention as the match entered its final period.
In the last 10 minutes, their slim hopes vanished in a rush of scores inspired by Blackrock's full forward unit of Brian O'Keeffe, Alan Browne and Sean Coakley.
But while that trio were substituted in unison, this Blackrock win was built on a formidable defence.
The venerable Jim Cashman was at the heart of everything and around him, he had worthy colleagues in Aidan Ryan and Fergal Ryan.
Alan Browne was, as usual, imperturbable in the corner while Wayne Sherlock continues to excel. The nippy defender shadowed Joe Deane all afternoon. UCC's only real opportunity to force an upset occurred in the 49th minute when Deane did manage to get possession and danced through a crowd to slip a pass to Stiofan Fitzpatrick. Trevor Barry got a stick to his shot and Blackrock half cleared, but Richie Flannery saw his shot curl narrowly wide.
Blackrock broke downfield and Sean Coakley delivered a fantastic point. That left matters at 1-13 to 0-8 with 11 minutes left, and although they had been indifferent all afternoon in finishing, Blackrock suddenly found their touch.
Barry Hennerby found that he could suddenly nail 50-metre scores with his eyes shut and Coakley steamed on to finish with five points, delighting the Blackrock fans in the crowd of 10,097. Seeing three goals rip past him hardly did justice to Brendan Kelly, for the college goalkeeper performed with heroic stoicism under constant pressure.
UCC kept tabs on their opponents over the first 15 minutes but found themselves lagging when Blackrock upped the pace thereafter.
Blackrock were in irresistible form during this period, with Alan Cummins supplementing the dominance of the half-back trio in ensuring that the UCC defence was kept stretched and back-pedalling.
Liam Meaney strode onto a looping handpass from Brian O'Keeffe and angled a lovely score to leave things poised at 0-5 to 0-4 and then the city team began to step it up. From the puck out, they came charging again and a deep ball saw O'Keeffe neatly sidestep Denis Twomey and rifle a white-hot shot which Brendan Kelly parried. The rebound fell to the attacker, he swung low again and Kelly, miraculously, tipped it to safety. Pulsating stuff.
But Blackrock were baying for blood, and soon the UCC back line wavered, with O'Keeffe again providing the assist from which Alan Browne calmly directed home. After that, they reeled off a succession of points to lead 1-8 to 0-5 after 26 minutes. The college side urgently reshuffled their offence and at the close of the half crept back into it, with John Kingston, Eoin Bennett and Johnny Enright each landing very timely scores.
But the second half lapsed into one-way traffic and by dusk, they were singing The Boys of Blackrock.
BLACKROCK: T Barry; W Sherlock, N Keane, J Browne; A Ryan, J Cashman; F Ryan; A Cummins, M Harrington (0-1); B Hennebry (0-3), L Meaney (0-2), A Coughlan (0-2); B O'Keeffe (1-1), A Browne (2-2, free), S Coakley (0-5). Subs: D Dempsey for B O'Keefee (67 mins); D O'Sullivan for A Browne (57 mins); N O'Leary for S Coakley (57 mins)
UCC: B Kelly; D Twomey, N Murphy, L Mannix; P Mahon, D Murphy, B Harte; E Enright, R Flannery; J Enright (0-2), J O'Brien, D Bennett (0-2, one 65); E Bennett, J Kingston (0-2), J Deane (0-2). Subs: J Murray for B Harte (half-time); S Fitzpatrick for EJ O'Brien (39 mins); J Murphy for E Bennett (49 mins).
Referee: J Motherway (Cork).
