Under-11 Report

On Saturday last in Páirc Uí Rinn Carrigaline reached the final of the John Kerins Memorial Tournament for the very first time. They reached the final courtesy of fine wins over Nemo Rangers and Ballincollig. In the final they came up against a very good Douglas team which came out on top by five points. Well done to players and team mentors on an excellent performance.
The under-11 hurlers got their City and Carrigdhoun campaigns underway and remain unbeaten in the City Under-11 and Carrigdhoun under-12 leagues.

City Under-11 Hurling League

Nemo 0-3 Carrigaline 4-3
Carrigaline travelled to Trabeg on May 22nd to open their City campaign and came away with the points after an excellent display. On a dry and bright day Carrig started well and were never under any serious pressure throughout, leading 3-2 to 0-0 at half-time. Despite this it took a while to kill off the spirited Nemo challenge. The Carrigaline defence had the upper hand with Peter O’Reilly and Stephen Williamson dominating their lines.
Oran Buckley and David Griffin at full forward were the best of the forwards on the day.

St Vincents 4-3 Carrigaline 4-3
On Wednesday June 4th Carrig travelled to the northside to take on St Vincents in their second City league game. Carrigaline started well and were in control of this match despite having a number of their regulars on the bench. As half time approached St. Vincents got a goal to close to within two goals of Carrigaline, 1-2 to 3-2.
In the second half Carrigaline continued to control the ball but were guilty of goal hunting. The Vincents goalkeeper and full back played particularly well keeping Carrigaline to 1-1 for the half. Carrigaline were punished for their profligacy in front of goal with Vincents notching 3-1 in the second half to earn a draw.

Carrigdhoun Under-12 C Hurling League

Ballygarvan 0-5 Carrigaline 4-5
Carrig opened with a game in Ballygarvan in the Carrigdhoun league on May 19th
and came away with a good win over a spirited home side. Carrigaline started well and were never under any serious pressure throughout. The Carrigaline midfield of Kieran Dwane and Caleb O’Connell dominated the game and created the chances for the forwards to finish this game off as a contest early on.
The two Carrigaline corner forwards combined well in the first half with John Reynolds claiming two assists for the two goals scored by Niall Quirke one of which was a beautifully struck double.
In the second half James Lordan came off the bench to score two goals of his own at corner forward.
Valley Rovers 0-2 Carrigaline 6-3
Carrigaline met Valley Rovers in Brinny on Monday June 2nd and recorded an emphatic win over the home side. David Thomas put in an excellent performance at centre back and was ably assisted by Oran Buckley at midfield.
Valley Rovers did well in the first half and only trailed 0-1 to 1-2 but as the game wore on Carrig’s pressure started to tell. Kieran Dwane and Barry Ryan provided most of the scores in an excellent team performance.

Under-12 Report
Following their heroics in the epic under-12 football final with Valley Rovers Carrig turned their attention to hurling matters.

City Under-12 Hurling League

Carrigaline 5-4 Whitechurch 2-3
Carrigaline played their first game in the City Hurling League on Saturday May 24th in Carrigaline against Whitechurch. Carrig played against a strong wind in the first half and although it was obvious that they had not played much hurling recently, a gritty performance by the whole team and in particular by the backs meant that Carrig led 2-0 to 0-3 at half time.
Whitechurch began the second half with much more purpose and took some good scores. But Carrigaline improved as the match went on and stuck to their task very well. Taking some great scores they ran out deserving winners on a score line 5-4 to 2-3. Ben Harvey, James Lester, David O Hara and Darragh Greally were amongst those who gave good displays for Carrigaline.

Carrigaline 2-5 Cobh 7-4
On Wednesday May 28th Cobh was the venue in the under-12 hurling league and the ability of the home side to strike for goals was a decisive factor in the outcome of the game. Cobh got out of the blocks very well and had scores on the board before Carrig realised the match had started. Carrig settled down and played well enough for the last 10 minutes of the first half. The second half saw Cobh continue where they left off and won easily 7-4 to 2-5. They were very strong and never allowed Carrig to get going while many of the Carrigaline players played well below what they are capable of.

Nemo 1-1 Carrigaline 1-5
Carrig got back to winning ways at Trabeg on Wednesday June 4th with a deserved four-point win over Nemo. It was a low-scoring game in which defences were on top but Carrig did enough to edge the verdict. After the heavy defeat to Cobh this was a very important match to regain confidence. Carrig played with much more commitment on this occasion and it was an evenly contested first half with a score 0-1 each. Carrig played with a slight wind in the second half but Nemo opened the scoring with a goal. Carrig replied with a great goal scored by Adam Coholan to draw the match. This was the turning point of the match and great defensive work by all the backs and points by Kieran Kavanagh, Brian Coakley and Adam Coholan gave Carrigaline a 1–5 to 1-1 victory.

Carrigaline 4-9 Blackrock 2-4
On Friday June 6th Blackrock travelled to Carrigaline. From the outset Carrig were the stronger team and good performances by Mark Linehan, Michael McGrath, David O’Hara and Ben Harvey gave Carrigaline a good win.

Under-14 Report
During the month of May Carrigaline played four games in the Carrigdhoun Under-14 Hurling League, recording victories over Ballinhassig, Courcey Rovers, Tracton and Sliabh Rua. On Sunday next they will take on Ballinhassig in the semi-final of the hurling championship in Carrigaline at 1p.m. with Valley Rovers awaiting the winners in the final. On the following weekend Killian McIntyre will represent Cork in the National Final of the Féile Skills competition in O’Moore Park, Portlaoise and everybody in the club wishes him the very best.

Carrigdhoun Under-14 B Hurling League

Carrigaline 5-10 Sliabh Rua 1-9
Carrigaline hosted Sliabh Rua in this under-14 hurling clash and emerged convincing winners with super-sub, Cian Lynch, contributing three cracking goals. Others to shine were Conor McGrath, Paudie Kingston, Stephen Maguire and Peter Mullane.

City Under-14 Hurling League

Carrigaline 3-15 Blackrock 3-12
This was a tremendous game between two evenly-matched teams played at Carrigaline on Sunday May 25th. Carrig came from nine points down early in the second half to win a cracking game with a last-minute goal from David O Donovan. Jamie de Puis was in excellent form, notching a personal tally of 2-6 and contributing hugely all over the field. Jamie’s midfield partner, Kevin O Connell, was brilliant throughout and gave possibly his best performance in a Carrig jersey. The full-backline of Killian O Mahony, Robert Foster and Brian Lynch were very solid and cleared their lines time and again.

Glen Rovers 3-9 Carrigaline 2-9
The under-14 hurlers suffered their first defeat when going down to Glen Rovers at the Glen Field on Wednesday June 3rd. It was an evenly-contested game throughout but the Glen just edged it at the finish. Cian O Herlihy scored a great goal for Carrig while Shane Griffin and Jamie de Puis were in excellent form.

Carrigaline Under-Age GAA
John Kerins Tournament

An outstanding performance from the Carrigaline Under-11 footballers saw them advance to the final of the John Kerins’ Cup on Saturday week last, June 7th, only to fall at the final hurdle. Make no mistake about it, nothing comes easy at Cup level and this achievement augurs well for the future of football in Carrigaline.
Carrig had qualified to compete in Pairc Ui Rinn by virtue of wins over Glanmire and St. Vincent’s in April. Roll forward to June and with Nemo Rangers providing the quarter-final opposition, the pressure was building. No bother to this group however and brim full of confidence they hit the front early and never looked back. Two goals and a point from full forward Evan Ryle coupled with points from substitutes Luke Kenny and Sean Kent in the second half, ensured that victory was never in doubt. The final scoreline of 2-7 to 1-0 accurately reflected Carrig’s dominance of this game.

The semi-final saw a match up with Ballincollig who had beaten Valley Rovers on the other side of the draw. This was always going to be a close affair, as Ballincollig themselves have high hopes for their team also. So it proved, with Ballincollig leading two points to no score at half time. A few words of wisdom from Nicholas Murphy and Ger Spillane were overheard at the half time huddle. Whatever was said, Carrig came out with all guns blazing. A superb second half performance powered by midfielders Barry Ryan and Kieran Dwane saw off Ballincollig on a scoreline of 2-3 to 0-2. Stephen Williamson and Colin Maguire impressed in the Carrigaline defence while in attack, Billy Pope showed well.

And so on to the final with Douglas, who had won through with wins over St.Finbarrs and St.Michaels on their side. Carrigaline and Douglas had met in the qualifiers in a 2-point game, in favour of Douglas, back in April and in truth Carrigaline must have relished the opportunity to have another shot at this accomplished side. The midfield pairing of Ryan and Dwane again worked hard from the start and the partnership of Oran Buckley and Caleb O’Connell up front always looked menacing. It was a 2-point game at half time and all to play for, but again it was not to be for Carrig. Maybe a small bit of tiredness had set in at that stage and with one or two decisions not going Carrigaline’s way, Douglas ran out deserving winners on a scoreline of 2-8 to 1-6.

Good work by Carrigaline. A lot done obviously…but more to do. That’s the beauty of football-you’re only as good as your last game and Douglas must already be firmly in their sights !

Carrigdhoun Under-14 A Hurling Championship

Carrigaline 3-14 Ballinhassig 2-10
Carrigaline qualified to meet Valley Rovers in the final of the Carrigdhoun under-14 A Hurling championship by virtue of a hard-fought victory over Ballinhassig at Carrigaline on Sunday afternoon last. Credit to Ballinhassig, who never gave up and made Carrig earn their place in the final.
Carrig started brightly and were three points to the good thanks to scores from Peter Mullane, Darren Murphy and Darragh Corcoran before Ballinhassig showed their intent not to go down easily with a goal in the eight minute. Carrig responded swiftly with a goal from Darragh Corcoran having received a lovely pass from Peter Mullane. Ballinhassig had the next two points before Shane Griffin made a decisive impact on the game with goals in the thirteenth and fifteenth minutes giving Carrig a healthy 3-3 to 1-2 lead. The remainder of the half was an evenly-balanced contest with both teams adding three points to their tallies; the Carrig scores coming from Kevin O Connell, Darragh Corcoran and Jamie de Puis, to leave Carrig leading 3-6 to 1-5 at the interval.
Ballinhassig began the second half strongly and began to whittle down the lead; reducing it to four points by the three-quarter stage. Only strong defence by the Carrig full-backline of Brian Lynch, Robert Foster and Killian O Mahony prevented them from getting through for the goal they so badly wanted.
Kevin O Connell lifted the siege with a pointed free and from there on Carrig grew in ascendancy and went on to score seven points in the final ten minutes to seal victory. Ballinhassig did have the final say when they got through for a goal in added-on time but it was a case of ‘too little too late’ as Carrig advanced to a final showdown with the Rovers.
Carrig team and scorers: Aidan O Flynn, Brian Lynch, Robert Foster, Killian O Mahony, Paudie Kingston, Peter Mullane (0-2), Stephen Maguire, Kevin O Connell (0-5)
Jamie de Puis (0-3), Darragh Corcoran (1-2), Jason Brady, Conor McGrath, Darren Murphy (0-2), Anthony O Donnell, Shane Griffin (2-0).
Subs: David O Shea for A O Donnell (inj), Cian O Herlihy.

Carrigdhoun Under-12 B Hurling League

Sliabh Rua 2-6 Carrigaline 1-13
Carrigaline Under 12 B hurlers played Sliabh Rua in their first match in the Fe 12 South East League on Monday June 9th at Riverstick. The first half was a very tight affair with very good scores by both teams and Carrigaline going in at half time leading 0-7 to 1-2. The second half started at the same fast pace and great play on the Sliabh Rua side was rewarded by a good goal despite a double save by Carrig’s excellent goalie Eoin O’Connor . All the Carrig lads showed great heart and kept to the task well and a great display of scoring by Brian Coakley gave Carrig a victory on a score line 1-13 to 2-6. This was a very hard fought game and a strong Sliabh Rua competed to the very end.

City Under-12 Hurling League

Mayfield 3-4 Carrigaline 2-3
Carrigaline Under 12 hurlers played Mayfield in the Fe12 City League on Wednesday June 11th. Carrigaline played against a strong wind and defended well in the first half but went in at the break 2 points behind 1-2 to 1-0. Mayfield with some very skilful players continued to keep the pressure on and scored 2 goals. Carrigaline never gave up and got a consolation goal in the last few minutes but this wasn’t enough and Mayfield held on for victory.

Carrigaline 11-5 Fermoy 0-5
Fermoy visited Carrigaline on Saturday June 14th to play in the Fe12 City League. Carrigaline got off to a great start with some great work from all the forwards and great finishing in particular by Ben Harvey and Daniel O’Reilly. A strong performance by Brian Coakley at centre field ensured a good supply of ball to the forwards. A solid performance by the defence and some great saves by Rory O’Herlihy in the second half kept Carrigaline well ahead. Fermoy never gave up but they would never recover from the excellent start by Carrigaline and finished 11-5 to 0-5 at full time.

CARRIGALINE 2-8 TRACTON 0-9

Carrigaline advanced to the next round of this year’s South East Championship thanks to a strong second half performance in Belgooly last Wednesday evening. Carrigs first half performance won’t go down in memory with a return of only one point for thirty minutes from Creagh Neville the only thing to note from the half from an attacking point of view. However the defence was well marshalled with all six defenders making good challenges and blocks throughout the half to limit Tractions’ scoring to six points. Also goalkeeper Mark O’Mahony was on hand with a number of vital saves.
Whatever manager Kevin O’Driscoll had to say to say to his players at half time certainly worked a treat as they came out for the second half and produced some excellent hurling and some top scores to match. The positional changes at the start of the second half proved to be the masterstroke and the Carrig lads settled quickly into their task. Brendan O’Driscoll was first to register a point and he quickly followed this with a point from a free. Brian Irwin then added a point from play before Brian Scanlon made it the bare minimum with another point. Then the big moment in the match for Carrig when Creagh Neville smashed the ball to the back of the Tracton net to put Carrigaline ahead for the first time. In the fourteenth minute Johnny Cowhig pointed a free to put Carrig 1-6 to 0-6 ahead and in control. Tracton upped their game again a responded with two points but the Carrig defence was in top form with Gavin Fitzgerald and Kevin O’Driscoll holding the centre firm while Andy O’Keeffe, Tony O’Connor, Daniel Bagnall and Kevin Curran were sending good ball into the forwards at every opportunity. Carrigaline’s second goal came courtesy of a long range effort from Brian Irwin with the ball taking a wicked bounce into the net and all but assuring victory. Tracton added their final point of the game before Paul Campbell notched his first of the game. Carrigaline now go on to play near neighbours Shamrocks in the next round.
Team: M O’Mahony, T O’Connor, G Fitzgerald, D Bagnall, K Curran, A O’Keeffe, J Cowhig, K O’Driscoll, CJ O’Sullivan, B O’Driscoll, B Irwin, B O’Keeffe, P Campbell, N Coakley, C Neville. Subs: C Barry, M Cuddihy, B Scanlon.

INTERMEDIATE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

The Carrigaline Intermediate footballers take on Canovee in Brinny next Friday evening the 20th at 8pm. This is a game of huge importance for the team and Canovee will be very tough opponents. But despite missing a few regulars the result should hopefully be the right one and see Carrig advance to the next round of this year’s county Championship. So come along on the night and give the lads as much support as possible.

NEW LOTTO FORMAT

The new Lotto format became a reality last week with the new €2 tickets coming on line. The jackpot will now start at €2,000 while the consolation prizes are €100 and five €20. The Club Lotto can now be played online at www.carrigalinegaa.com so if you have friends or relatives abroad they can visit the website and be in with a chance of winning the jackpot and also supporting the clubs fundraising efforts at the same time.

Carrigaline 3-6 Valley Rovers 3-8

Carrig’s run of Final defeats continued at Riverstick on Monday evening last when they were narrowly defeated in the Carrigdhoun Under-14 A Hurling Final by great rivals Valley Rovers after an absorbing hour’s hurling.
The concession of three goals in the opening half proved costly for Carrig as they could never quite bridge the half-time deficit of five points despite a great second-half fight-back which saw them hold their opponents scoreless for almost twenty-five minutes.
Carrig opened with a pointed free from Killian McIntyre but two early goals from the Rovers put them in a commanding position. A well-taken goal by Darragh Corcoran put Carrig back in the game and they trailed 1-2 to 2-2 after the first quarter. Valleys got through for a third goal but Carrig again hit back with a similar score by Killian McIntyre from a 20 metre free to leave the interval score at 3-6 to 2-4 in favour of the Rovers.
There were twenty-one scoreless minutes in the second half with both sides battling for supremacy. The Carrig backline had tightened up considerably with Robert Foster Shane Griffin and Brian Lynch, who was excellent throughout, to the fore. Killian McIntyre and Kevin O Connell covered every blade of grass as they began to exert dominance in the midfield exchanges. Up front Jamie de Puis was always a threat while David O Donovan was very unlucky not to find the net on at least one occasion.
When Jamie pointed and followed almost immediately with a goal following a strong run the lead was down to the minimum with seven minutes remaining. Sensing danger, Valleys responded with the next two points to stretch their lead. Carrig had the final say with a pointed free from Killian McIntyre but they could not get through for the goal they needed in the remaining time.

Carrig team and scorers: Shane Griffin, Killian O Mahony, Robert Foster, Brian Lynch, Shane Griffin, Peter Mullane, Stephen Maguire, Killian McIntyre (1-4), Jamie de Puis (1-2), Paudie Kingston, Kevin O Connell, Jason Brady, Darragh Corcoran
(1-0), David O Donovan, Anthony O Donnell.
Subs: Conor McGrath for A O Donnell, Cian O Herlihy for Jason Brady, Darren Murphy for Darragh Corcoran, David O Shea, Breffni Creedon, David Canty

Feile Skills Final

Well done to Killian McIntyre who represented Cork so well on Saturday last in O Moore Park , Portlaoise in the final of the Feile Hurling Skills competition. While not achieving ultimate honours, he did himself, family, club and county proud.

City Under-11 Hurling League

St. Finbarrs 2-8 Carrigaline 2-6
Togher was the venue for this under-11 hurling league game which was a good tight match between two evenly matched teams. St. Finbarrs won the toss and played with the receding sun to their backs. This ultimately won the game as Carrig conceded two goals in the first half from high balls into the goalmouth, which came out of the sun.

In the second half Carrigaline controlled matters for twenty minutes but could not convert their scoring chances. To lose out by two points at the end of this game, having had so much of the ball in the attacking half of the field, was really disappointing.

Carrigdhoun Under-12 C Hurling League

Carrigaline 1-8 Tracton 2-8
Playing with the wind Tracton made much the better start to this game and led at halftime by 2-4 to 0-1. Rory O’Herlihy in the Carrig goal made a couple of good stops which helped keep Carrig in it for the second half.

Carrigaline played really well in the second half with Kieran Dwane, Barry Ryan in midfield, Michael McGrath at full forward and Stephen Williamson at centre back dominating their positions. A number of good saves by the Tracton keeper prevented Carrig taking the win.

Carrigaline 2-6 Kinsale 2-8
Carrigaline struggled in the first half against a physically stronger Kinsale side. A couple of soft goals for Kinsale gave the halftime score the look of a very one sided game but this did not reflect the number of chances created at both ends.

Carrigaline played really well in the second half and with the aid of the stiff breeze outscored Kinsale to make a game of it. Carrigaline closed to within two points at one stage only for Kinsale to get two late points to secure the win.

CARRIGALINE 1-12 CANOVEE 2-11

There was disappointment for the Carrigaline Intermediate Footballers last Friday evening when they bowed out of this year’s Championship. The concession of a second goal seven minutes from time from a quick free proved to be Carrigs downfall on a night when they raced into a 1-5 to no score lead. From the very first minute quick ball into the full forward lined had the Canovee defence in disarray. Niall Coakley was first on the board with a pointed free in the first minute and he added a second from play two minutes later. Carrig had another score from a Barry O’Keeffe free before a long range free from Nicholas Murphy in the eleventh minute into the square saw Barry O’Keeffe out jump the Canovee keeper to put the ball in the back of the net. Carrig then had two further points, one from play from Marc Doody and another from the reliable boot of Niall Coakley in the thirteenth minute. Canovee with their first meaningful attacks of the game put two points on the board before Peter Murphy got Carrigs last point of the half in the seventeenth minute after good work by Elliot O’Keeffe. Canovee then took over for the rest of the half and scored five points on the trot. Then as the half was in injury time Canovee goaled to leave the Half time score, 1-7 to 1-6 in their favour.
The second half was a nip and tuck affair with a lot of broken play and some good scores. In the first minute of the half a Carrig free dropped short and was collected by Nicholas Murphy who levelled the game for Carrigaline. A Canovee 45 had them back in front by the eleventh minute of the half but this was quickly cancelled out by a Barry O’Keeffe free. Simon O’Brien had Carrig back in front with a well taken point but their opponents hit back with two more to go back in front again. Marc Doody equalised again for the Carrig lads with a 45 but another Canovee point had them back in front. Elliot O’Keeffe then had Carrigaline level again after a great catch in midfield and a strong run through the centre. Then Disaster for Carrig, with the second Canovee goal. With time running out Barry O’Keeffe had a point from a free and despite their best efforts the crucial goal never materialised and Canovee were victors by 2-11 to 1-12.
Carrig had some good performers on the night in Michael Webb, Peter Ronayne, Colin Lynch, Simon O’Brien, Peter Murphy, David Drake, Niall Coakley and Barry O’Keeffe.

Team: M Webb, B Irwin, N Hayes, P Ronayne, C Lynch, G Harrington, Geoff Dillon, Nicholas Murphy, E O’Keeffe, P Murphy, J Moran, Simon O’Brien, Marc Doody, N Coakley, Barry O’Keeffe. Subs: K Forbes, D Drake, P Holland.