Intemediate Hurlers Bow Out of Championship

The Intermediate hurlers bowed out of the championship when they were defeated by Valley Rovers at the quarter final stage. The final score of 2-14 to 1-10 does not do justice to a spirited second half performance which could have yielded a surprise victory but faltered on a lack of fire power upfront.

The minor hurlers play the same opposition in the South East final next Sunday (venue and time to be decided)

The first half was a tame affair and despite playing with the wind we could only manage three points, two from frees from Brendan O’Driscoll and a point from play from Peter Murphy. Due to the tenacity of our defence where Andrew O’Keeffe was very effective at corner back and Philip Ahern belied his years to play outstanding through out at centre back, we restricted Valley Rovers to five points.

The second half was a totally different affair although it looked very bleak after three minutes when Valleys raced into a 1-7 to 0-3 lead. Brendan O’Driscoll pointed a free in the fourth minute and Nicholas Murphy who had an outstanding second half pointing from play a minute later. Valleys added two more points by the seventh minute before second half substitute Gary Harrington goaled in the tenth minute after being set up by Nicholas Murphy to leave four points between the teams.

Unfortunately we missed two scoreable frees in the couple of minutes and this let Valleys off the hook. They took advantage with a point on the 15th minute but Gary Harrington was back again to score a point a minute later. Nicholas Murphy had the margin back down to three points before Valleys got in for another goal to put daylight between the teams. Nicholas Murphy and Gary Harrington continued to try and bring Carrig back into the game with Nicholas pointing in the twentieth minute and Gary seeing a great effort for goal go over the bar. Valleys tacked on three points before Nicholas Murphy burst through and planted the ball in the net. For reasons best known to himself referee Michael Collins blew him back for a free which Brendan O’Driscoll pointed. Valleys had the last score to leave the final score Carrigaline 1-10 Valley Rovers 2-14.

A spirited performance which fell short in the end. However the campaign as a whole fully justified the decision to go Intermediate and the introduction of minors Raymond Keohane, Wesley O’Brien, Gary Harrington and Stephen Corcoran (who along with Joe Moran were on the Cork Under 16 team which drew with Galway in the under 16 All-Ireland Championship final in Thurles on Sunday) during the year gives ground for optimism going forward.

Having mentioned the youth we should also mention the outstanding performances of the thirty something’s, Jimmy Murphy, Philip Ahern, Ger Hoey, Ger Cooney and Brendan Hogan. One more year lads to bring the young fellows through !!! Not forgetting the league where we still have a chance of qualifying for the semi-finals.

Team: Eoin O’Sullivan, Ger Hoey, Jimmy Murphy, Andrew O’Keeffe, Geoff Dillon, Philip Ahern, Raymond Keohane, Kevin O’Driscoll, Ger Cooney, Michael O’Sullivan, Nicholas Murphy (0-3), Peter Murphy (0-1), Brendan O’Driscoll (0-4), Brendan Hogan and Brian Irwin. Subs used Gary Harrington (1-2) and Wesley O’Brien

Carrigaline Come Out On Top In South East Final
CARRIGALINE 5-11
BALLINHASSIG 2-8
Carrigaline under 16 hurlers played Ballinhassig in Riverstick last Wednesday night, in this eagerly awaited southeast final, between these two traditional rivals.
Carrigaline, playing with the wind had the better of the opening exchanges. A goal in the third minute from Craig Neville was the first score of the match. Craig also found the net a few minutes later. Ballinhassig’s first score, a point, was quickly cancelled out again from the stick of Craig Neville. A Stephen Corcoran goal halfway through the half gave Carrig a comfortable lead. But Ballinhassig always looked dangerous up front, and scored two goals in the last eight minutes of the first half to leave the halftime score: Carrigaline 3-5 Ballinhassig 2-1.
Ballinhassig had wind advantage in the second half, and whilst they had the first few points, Carrig never panicked and it was point for point until the twentieth minute, when Peter Ronayne scored a great goal. Ballinhassig never gave up and quickly responded with a well-taken point. But, with the score 4-8 to 2-7, some frantic action in around the square resulted in the young Simon O’Brien finding the net and the game was over as a contest. This was a very enjoyable game with some great hurling played by two very committed teams. Shane Barry in goal had a good game, particularly in the second half. Carrig also had some fine hurling from Conor Hurley Joseph Moran, Peter Ronayne, Stephen O’Regan, Craig Neville (top scorer with a tally of 2-4), Stephen Corcoran, and Simon O’Brien who impressed on his introduction.
Scorers: Craig Neville 2-4, Stephen Corcoran 1-5, Peter Ronayne and Simon O’Brien 1-0 each and Paul Campbell 0-2.
PLAYERS USED: S. Barry, J. McCarthy, C. Hurley, G. Kiely, J. Cowhig, J. Moran, P. Donnellan, P. Ronayne, S. O’Regan, R. Foley, C. Neville, T. Murphy, P. Campbell, M. Cuddihy, S. Corcoran, P.O’Mahony and Simon O’Brien.
This Carrigaline team now go forward to play Bandon in the first round of the county championship in Carrigaline next Friday night, September 3rd at 6.45.
Well done to Stephen Corcoran and Joseph Moran in playing so well for the U16 Cork Hurling team in Thurles last Sunday. Also, to David O’Regan and Simon O’Brien for their great performance in the U15 Tony Forristal Hurling Tournament in Waterford. And Tony Murphy and Conor Hurley who put in a good performance in the U15 Carrighdhoun Inter County Hurling Tournament last week end.
U14B
Carrigaline’s second U14B team were in action against Courceys in the football championship, last Friday evening on home ground. Carrig tried hard, but Courceys had the edge and came out easy winners.
The U14C team also played last Friday evening against Ballygarvan in the football championship. The Carrig lads displayed some superb football and showed a determined team effort. Ballygarvan put in an extra effort in the second half, but Carrigaline ran out the winners.

CARRIGALINE V SLIABB RUA
Carrigaline under 16 hurlers played Sliabh Rua in the South East B hurling championship semi-final in Minane Bridge.
From the start, Carrigaline were well on top, and had a good lead at halftime. They really put on the pressure in the second half. Sliabh Rua battled hard and never gave up, but they found scores very difficult to come by. In the end it was a comfortable win for the Carrig lads and all the team played well.
Scorers: S. Corcoran 1-7, T, Murphy 1-3, And P. Campbell 0-4, C. Neville 0-3, J. Moran 0-2, S.O’Regan, P. Ronayne and N. Coakley 0-1 each.
Panel: S. Barry, J. McCarthy, C. Hurley, G. Kiely, J. Cowhig, J. Moran, P. Donnellan, P. Ronayne, S. O’Regan, R. Foley, M. Cuddihy, T. Murphy, S. Corcoran, I. Ward, P. Campbell, R. Brennan, C. Neville, S. O’Brien and N. Coakley.
The final is in Riverstick on Wednesday night at 7.00pm against Ballinhassig. We wish then the best of luck and they need your support.
U14B
The first team in the U14B’s were in action against Courcey Rovers last Friday night, Courceys fought hard, but the Carrig lads ran out easy winners. While on the same night our second team lost out to Kinsale.
The Lord Mayor’s Cup final was cancelled last Sunday, due to weather conditions and a date will be arranged for next week

Victory for Carrigaline’s U14 Hurlers
U14 South East Final
Carigaline 2-15
Sliabh Rua 4-3
Last Monday evening Carrigaline U14’s played the final of the U14 Hurling Championship in Minane Bridge, against Sliabh Rua. Carrig started very poorly and soon were down 2 goals to no score. Carrigaline gradually began to settle and positional changes helped to improve their play, Simon O’Brien was moved out to mid-field, Tony O’Connor to centre back and David Drake to wing back. Coming up to half time the lads had battled back and taken the lead. But, with a lapse in concentration Carrig left in Sliabh Rua for another goal.
Sliabh Rua led 3-3 to 1-8 at the break. Some stern words at half time saw a different team come out for Carrigaline, with a lot more team effort and determination. They quickly cancelled out the Sliabh Rua’s lead and soon had built up a 5 point lead of their own. Stephen Gorman came on and was very unlucky not to score on a few occasions. Scorers: David O’Regan 2-1, Simon O’Brien 0-7, Adrian Lynch 0-6, Cian Barry 0-1.
Team: Mark O’Mahony, James O’Shea, David Drake, Kaelan Spillane, Daniel Bagnell, Brian Dorgan, Jason O’Leary, Tony O’Connor, Eoin Conway, David O’Regan, Cian Barry, Sean C.onlon, Simon O’Brien, Adrien Lynch

FÉ 13 Hurling
Carrigaline 1-5
Glen Rovers 3-8

Our Fe 13 hurlers played their last game in the Radley Shield competition against The Glen, last Thursday night. The game started fiercely with some fine hurling by both sides. After 20 minutes the teams were 1-1 each. Carrig went ahead with a great point by Michael O’Donovan, but the Glen followed up with an unfortunate goal. At that stage our lads heads started to go down and the Glen took advantage and started to race ahead.
Carrigaline lads never recovered in the second half and played well below their best. The Glen deserved their victory on the night with the scoreline 1-5 to 3-8.
Eoin Brennan, Cian Barry and Michael O’Donovan played well on the night. Sean Conlon again worked tirelessly in the centre and had a fine match.
Team:
E.Brennan, S.Timmins, C.Barry, S.Gorman , S.Mellett, M.O’Donovan , M.Dwane, E.Callanan, S.Conlon, D.Drake , O.Finn, L.O’Regan , K.Spillane, W.Bruton, D.O’Keeffe, S.O’Halloran, S.Masterson, R.McCarthy, R.Duggan, E.Kavanagh, N.Martin, and P.McGrath.
Fe16
Our U16’s had the edge over Ballygarvan last Wednesday night in the hurling championship. They have one more game left to play in the championship, which will be decided on this week.
Fe14
The U14’s consistently performed well in the Lord Mayor’s Cup over the past number of weeks, but lost out to Na Piarsaigh last Saturday.
Both the U14B and U14C won their respective semi finals against Valley Rovers and Shamrocks last Friday night. Finals of all matches will be decided during the week, so check the notice boards and our web site.
Congratulations to Eoin Brennan and David Drake in winning the “Strike &Lift” hurling skills competition in Croke Park last Sunday. The final will be next Sunday, August 15th in Croke Park. Best of luck lads!

Under 21 Hurling Championship

The under 21 hurlers had a good victory over Ballymartle in the quarter final of the championship last Saturday evening in Minane Bridge. Ballymartle were first to score with a point within the opening minute, but Carrig were on top from the outset and points from Elliot O’Keeffe (after a fine catch) and Michael O’Sullivan had us a point in front by the 6th. minute. Three minutes later Ballymartle had their first goal, a fine individual effort and the signs looked a bit ominous. However Carrig responed with a pointed free from Stephen Corcoran. Ballymartle restored the two point lead in the fifteenth minute and Carrig suffered another blow when centre back Ray Keohane was forced off the field with a hand injury.

Cian O’Mahony moved to centre back where he dominated possession and substitute Jason Kidney was a very able replacement. Two points from Stephen Corcoran, one from play and one from a free, had Carrig level by the 20th minute. With Wesley O’Brien well on top at midfield ably assisted by Colin Lynch, Carrig continued to press forward and took the lead in the 25th minute when Elliot O’Keeffe found Colin Lynch with a cross field pass from which Lynch pointed. Stephen Corcoran stamped his authority on the game in the 29th minute when he received a pass from the hard working Eoin Barry and finished to the net. Just for good measure Michael O’Sullivan added a point from the puck out. We should have been going in at half time with a comfortable lead but a bad lapse in concentration in defense allowed Ballymartle in for a second goal in injury time to leave the half time score Carrigaline 1-7, Ballymartle 2-2, scant reward for their superiority on the field.

Ballymartle were again first to register in the second half, a pointed free in the first minute to leave the minimum between the teams. Carrig responded well with four points in the next ten minutes. Wesley O’Brien from a 65, Elliot O’Keeffe (having been set up by Barry O’Keeffe who was involved in a lot of good work throughout the game) and two Stephen Corcoran frees to leave 5 points between the teams. Bally had it back to three by the 17th minute but Peter Murphy put a temporary halt on their come back with a point a minute later. It was back to one point by the 19th minute and the margin was still three by the 22nd as Stephen Corcoran pointed a free which was immediately cancelled out.

Carrig held their nerve in a tension filled finish and it was fitting that Stephen Corcoran was on hand to finish the scoring when he pointed a free with the last puck of the game to leave the final score Carrigaline 1-14, Ballymartle 2-7.

Team: Eoin O’Sullivan, Richard Jenkinson, John Walsh, Ger Dooley, Evan O’Sullivan, Ray Keohane, Cian O’Mahony, Colin Lynch (0-1), Wesley O’Brien (0-1), Michael O’Sullivan (0-2), Eoin Barry, Peter Murphy (0-1), Barry O’Keeffe, Elliot O’Keeffe (0-2) and Stephen Corcoran (1-7). Sub Jason Kidney