Sunday, as every good citizen knows by now, is All-Ireland Final day. Cork
>
> take on Kilkenny at Croke Park in a clash of the country’s two hurling
> giants.
> This is the Big One. Cork v Kilkenny. Rebels against Cats. You have to
> feel
> a bit sorry for a proud hurling county like Kilkenny for being saddled
> with
> such an unfortunate nickname. In Cork our ‘Rebel’ tag sits easily with our
>
> healthy romantic notion of ourselves as mavericks.
> We set ourselves apart from the rest of the country, living life at our
> own
> pace and pursuing a revolutionary agenda of a People’s Republic. Our
> hurling team symbolises Cork’s identity and defiance - a rebel team for a
> rebel people. So what does that make Kilkenny? A feline team for a catli
ke
>
> people?
> In America they name sports teams after creatures like lions, panthers,
> falcons, eagles, hornets. These are animals with qualities that come in
> handy during matches, like speed, courage and unbridled bloodlust. Cats
> play with balls of wool, balm out purring next to the fire and run away
in
>
> terror when you try to touch them. An unusual choice of creature for a
> hurling team to align itself with.
> Kilkenny’s jerseys meanwhile are the cause of many a spectator migraine on
>
> match day, in true Leinster style. When RTE first began broadcasting
> hurling in colour, they had to flash a ‘Do not adjust your set’ message
> onscreen every time Kilkenny played.
> Many viewers assumed that technical gremlins were responsible for the
> horrific bands of clashing colours moving across their screens. They
> didn’t
> realise that Kilkenny had actually chosen to look like that. Black and
> amber is the sort of colour scheme you’d choose if all the good ones like
> red and white had already been taken by other, superior counties.
> Even the most casual listener can recognise a sharp difference between the
>
> Cork and Kilkenny accents. We need look no further than the insufferable
> Kilkenny dirge ‘The Rose of Mooncoin’ for evidence of the unusual way th
ey
>
> speak in the county. Both ’shine’ and ‘entiwne’ are used to rhyme with
> ‘Mooncoin’. As Corkonians, we find this hilarious. It seems any vaguely
> similar words can be made to rhyme perfectly if they’re spoken in a thic
k
> Urlingford accent.
> Up in Kilkenny much is expected from their team on Sunday. The way they
> talk about themselves you’d swear they fancy themselves as ‘Cork without
a
>
> coastline’ or something. The cheek of them. All eyes in the county will be
>
> focussed on the double-act of DJ Carey and MC Shefflin, Kilkenny’s veteran
>
> duo. These days Carey is regularly mentioned in the same breath as Christy
>
> Ring, but we would prefer not to dwell on this blasphemy and sacrilege
> here. It is a crime perpetrated mainly by the Dublin media, who have made
> Kilkenny their darlings because of their own realisation that they’ll se
e
> Cork play in blue before they ever see Dublin beat us at hurling.
> Kilkenny are comfortably the bookies’ favourites . Bookies are known for
> getting it right more often than wrong so on the face of it those odds
> make
> depressing reading. However, we have something more powerful on our side:
> a
> whole raft of hurling clichés. ‘The only time to write off Cork is neve
r’.
>
> ‘When September comes, so do Cork’. ‘15 against 15′. ‘You can always trust
>
> Cork to be Cork’. The list goes on, including the most comforting cliché
> of
> all for us Corkonians, ‘Class will always out’. No bookmaker in the land
> can compete with that.
>

Minor Football Championship

Fresh from their victory in the hurling decider, Carrigaline minors took on Ballygarvan in the first round of the football championship. Weather conditions were dreadful, but the Shanbally pitch was in very good condition.

Carrig had the wind in the first half and a plentiful supply of ball was converted into a nine points to nil lead at half time. Any attacks that Ballygarvan had were adequately dealt by the defence where both Kieran Kelleher and Alan Noonan were particularly effective.

Ballygarvan had much the better of the opening period of the second half but all they had to show for their efforts during this period was two points.

Carrigalines first score of the second half did not come until the 15th minute when Alan Jenkinson pointed but two goals in a minute sealed the victory. Timmy Kenneally set up Cormac Creed Nolan for a goal in the 16th minute and finished off the game with a goal himself a minute later.

Timmy had another goal in the 26th minute to leave the final score Carrigaline 3-11 Ballygarvan 0-7 to set up a semi-final clash with Courcey Rovers.

Michael Webb, Kieran Kelleher, Colin Lynch, Colin Tuohig, Jason Kidney, Ray Keohane, Alan Noonan, Gary Harrington (0-1), Kyle Meehan, Wesley O’Brien (0-1), Hugh Cox, Alan Jenkinson (0-3), Cormac Creed Nolan (1-1), Timmy Keneally (2-3) and Tony O’Sullivan (0-2)

Carrigaline Minors Retain Minor Hurling Title

It was a great weekend for hurling in Carrigaline with the minor hurlers retaining the South East Minor hurling title and Nicholas Murphy winning an All Ireland Intermediate Hurling medal with Cork.

The minor victory ensures that Carrig are South East Champions at under 14, under 16 and minor level and shows that the amount of work being put into hurling in the club is starting show dividends.

Everyone in the club was delighted to hear that Nicholas Murphy had won an All Ireland medal on Saturday. Better know as a footballer, Nicholas is also a very accomplished hurler having been a dual under 21 player. His marvellous display against Valley Rovers in the County quarter final brought him again to the attention of the Cork Intermediate selectors and he made a telling contribution when introduced in Thurles on Saturday.

In keeping with his commitment to the club he was on hand on Sunday morning to present the medals at the street league finals where over 150 young lads from 5 to 10 years will be hoping to emulate his achievements in the years to come.

South East Minor Hurling Final

Carrigaline minor hurlers retained their title when they defeated Valley Rovers after a marvellous hours hurling in Shanbally last Sunday in front of a large attendance.

Valleys had defeated Carrig in the round robin section of the championship but Carrig put up a much improved performance from this outing.

Carrig were on top from the outset with the very impressive Craig Neville opening the scoring in the 3rd. minute. Wesley O’Brien and Stephen Corcoran had Carrig ahead by three points by the 11th minute. The Carrig backs were well on top at this stage but three frees in as many minutes to Valley Rovers had the teams level by the 15th minute. Valley Rovers had a player dismissed and Carrig took full advantage scoring six points without reply between the 20th and 28th minute, the scores coming from Craig Neville (3), Wesley O’Brien (2) and Stephen Corcoran (free). Valleys has the last score of the half to leave the half time score Carrigaline 0-9 Valley Rovers 0-4.

The first half display from the team was as good a display as one would wish for from a minor team. The striking was crisp and sharp while never allowing Valleys to get into any kind of rhythm with an amount of hooking and blocking of opponents in possession. Up front Craig Neville gave an outstanding performance at centre forward scoring four points from play ably assisted by Wesley O’Brien (who literally ran himself into the ground in the searing heat) who contributed three from play in the same period.

Valleys were first to score in the second half but the goal which we had been threatening finally came in the third minute of the second half when good work by Stephen Corcoran set up Alan Noonan who made no mistake. Timmy Kenneally was rewarded for his all round effort when he pointed in the 7th minute. Stephen Corcoran pointed a free in the 10th minute and followed up from play three minutes later. Alan Jenkinson got on the score sheet in the 19th minute with Valleys pointing immediately.

The impressive Stephen Corcoran scored a wonderful point from way out on the sideline to leave Carrig leading 1-14 to 0-5 with ten minutes to go. Unfortunately Carrig then had a player dismissed and this gave Valleys hope and to their credit they continued to hurl well and were rewarded with a goal and four points in 5 minutes as the Carrig players lost their shape around the middle half of the field.

Stephen Corcoran lifted the siege with the last score of the game to leave Carrig worthy winners on a score line of 1-15 to 1-9 after a fine team performance. While the forwards were impressive through out with all six scoring from play we should not forget the contribution of the back line where Joe Moran and Kieran Kelleher were particularly impressive

Gary Harrington was presented with the cup after the game by the secretary of the South East Board, Liam Webb to the delight of the large Carrig contingent.

Well done to Ger Keohane who took over the mantle of manager for the final, to coach Brendan O’Driscoll who had the team very well prepared, to Pat Corcoran and Neally O’Keeffe who stepped in as selectors for the final and to the rest of the management team Billy Walsh and Eoin Kavanagh.

The team turn their attention to football this week where we meet Ballygarvan in the first round in Shanbally on Friday evening at 6.15

Team: Michael Webb, John Walsh, Joseph Moran, Kieran Kelleher, Jason Kidney, Ray Keohane, Colin Tuohig, Gary Harrington, Colin Lynch, Wesley O’Brien (0-3), Craig Neville (0-4), Timmy Kenneally (0-1), Stephen Corcoran (0-6), Alan Noonan (1-0) and Alan Jenkinson (0-1). Sub used Peter Roynane

UNDERAGE REPORTS
GOOD WIN FOR CARRRIGALINE U16 HURLERS IN FIRST ROUND OF THE PREMIER HURLING CHAMPIONSHIP

CARRIGALINE 2-13
BANDON 2-6
Carrigaline U16 hurlers were at home to Bandon in the first round of the county championship last Friday night. This proved to be no easy task as Bandon were well up for the task in hand.
Carrigaline had a dream start with a goal from Craig Neville in the second minute of the game, followed by a point from Stephen Corcoran. Within minutes Bandon had registered points from play and it was point for point for the rest of the half, to leave the halftime score Carrigaline 1-5, Bandon 0-5. Just a goal between the sides and all to play for in the second half.
Once again, Carrig had the two scores of the second half, points from Craig Neville. A Stephen Corcoran goal in the 10th minute left the score 2-7 to 0-6 in favour of Carrigaline. Both teams continued to put on a lot of pressure for the remainder of the game, resulting in Bandon scoring two goals and Carrigaline six points. Bandon have to be commended for their never say die attitude. They battled hard to the end and really put it up to the Carrig lads. But on the night Carrigaline were more than worthy winners on a score line of 2-13 to 2-6.
Once again, fullback Connor Hurley had a tremendous game, as did Jonathan Cowhig, Joseph Moran, and Peter Donnellan. Up front all the forwards played their hearts out and took their scores well.
Unfortunately, midway through the second half, Mitchell Cuddihy suffered a nasty head injury, which required stitches. We wish him a speedy recovery. It proved without doubt the importance of wearing a helmet.
Scorers: Stephen Corcoran 1-8, Craig Neville 1-2, Paul Campbell, Stephen O’Regan, and Joseph Moran 0-1 each
Players used: S. Barry, P.O’Mahony, C. Hurley, J. Cowhig, G. Kiely, J. Moran, P. Donnellan, M. Cuddihy, S. O’Regan, T. Murphy, C. Neville, P. Campbell, P. Ronayne, I. Ward, S. Corcoran, S. O’Brien, and N. Coakley.

U11 South East Hurlingm
The final score may suggest this was a comfortable win for the U11 Carrigaline 1 team against Ballinhassig, in the South East Championship, but this was a tough game of hurling which both teams can take a lot from. The Carrig lads got off to a great start with an early goal from the ever-improving Mickey Quinn. Robert O’Shea added a further 1-2 to leave the half time score 2-2 to 0-1. Michael O’Grady, who has been outstanding for Carrigaline in the last couple of games hurled well in midfield throughout the game. The Carrig backs were also outstanding with many long ball deliveries into their forward line, which they added 5 pts in the second half. This was a good team performance and a great start to the U-11 competition.
Next match on Friday night next Sept 10th in Bandon at 6.30pm. Meet in Club at 5.20.
Team: E. O’Donavan, I.Silke, J.O’Keeffe, A.O’Reilly, J.Kind, C.McSweeney,
K.Conlon, K.Kavanagh, M.O’Grady, S.Dwane, R.O’Shea, D.O’Brien, M.Quinn, E.Moynihan, E.O’Donnell.

U11 South East Hurling Championship
This week saw our U11’s second team enter their first competition in the U11C southeast hurling championship. We were a bit apprehensive about entering this competition, even though we had a good run in challenge matches recently. From the instant the ball was thrown in, Carrigaline gave a great performance of skill, determination and that all important factor that wins matches, bravery. Michael O Grady and Conor Gould took control from the start with a performance to be remembered and admired. This gave a settling effect to the less experienced members of the team and with Kevin O Connell and Michael Curtin playing out of their skin, Carrigaline were soon in the lead with a great goal from Stephen Brophy. The team played as a unit and looked like a team that had been together for a long time, all though this was the first outing of the combined under 11 and some of the U10 players.
Carrigaline piled on the pressure with further scores from Conor Gould and Cian Diggins. Valley Rovers failed to penetrate the excellent backline of Phillip Ahern, Kilian O’Mahony, Michael Crean and goalkeeper Shane Griffin, and at half time Carrig led 3-2 to no score.
The second half started in a similar fashion, with Conor Gould winning the throw in and sending Kilian Mc Intyre through for a great goal. Further points from Cian Diggins and Michael O Grady saw Carrig well ahead.
Valley Rovers first goal came midway through the second half, when a penalty that was saved by David O Shea was scrambled over the line in the melee that followed. Carrigaline immediately responded with a goal from Brian Curran. With the match safely in the bag Jim Gould organised the subs to ensure that all the 23 players in the panel received a game before the final whistle.
Valley Rovers scored another goal and a point from a 65, but Carrigaline emerged victors on the day, due in no small way to the efforts of Shane Griffin at wing forward, Michael O Donnell, Kevin Harrington, Jamie De Puis, Kevin Martin, Eoin O Herlihy, David Lynch, Cian Lynch and David Keating.
Our thanks to all the parents who provided transport to Brinny and also to Sean O Shea and Bernard Ahern for their support and sound advice to the raw recruits of Jim Gould and Robert Foster.
The next match will be against Ballygarvan on Friday Sept. 10th . This is a home game with the throw in at 6.30.
U14’s Semi Final
Both U14 teams played in the semi final of the South East Football Championship last Monday night. The U14B’s played against Sliabh Rua in Riverstick. It wasn’t Sliabh Rua’s night, as Carrigaline took the spoils and now go forward to the final of the Championship.
U14C
Carrigaline 2-4
Shamrocks 5-6
Our lads put in a spirited performance against a more physically strong Shamrocks team in the recent 14C championship semi final match in Shanbally.
The match opened with a flurry of attacks by both teams. The style of football played by Carrigaline was tremendous but we didn’t take our scores and we were 4 points behind at half time.
We played with tremendous spirit in the second half but Shamrocks physical strength showed half way into the second half. After Shamrocks scored two quick successive goals the wind was knocked out of the Carrigaline sails. However, to their credit, the Carrigaline lads continued to attack the Shamrocks and were rewarded by two superb goals of their own by Cian Barry and Cian Sisk.
There were superb individual performances by Michael O’Donovan, Cian Barry, Wayne Bruton, Stephen Gorman, Sean Conlon and Shane O’Halloran. Overall, the whole team played with a great spirit and resolve and never gave up until the final whistle. Well done lads.
U13 City Hurling
Carrig’s U13’s played on home ground against St. Finbarrs last Saturday in the city hurling league. These two teams are generally closely matched and this game was no exception, as it was an extremely tight match with some great hurling from both sides. Cian Barry at full back for Carrig, gave an outstanding performance. At half time the score for Carrig was 0-3 to 0- 2.
Again, the second half produced some good hurling displays from both teams, but the Carrigaline lads ran out the winners.
Scorers for Carrigaline: Ian O’Halloran 1 goal, Michael O’Donovan 4 points, Liam O’Regan, Stephen Gorman, Wayne Bruton 1 point each.