ST CATHERINE’S hurlers are moving in the right direction, according to their manager Seánie O’Farrell.

Friday’s three-point victory in the Cork IHC over Castlemartyr at Lisgoold assures them their place in round four.

They survived a late comeback from Castlemartyr that saw an 11-point advantage whittled down to just three, and the former Carrigtwohill and Cork attacker says it is good to be hurling into September.

“Castlemartyr are a good team, they proved that. The game is never over until the final whistle sounds.

“Maybe we took our eye off the ball there for the last 10 minutes, it will give us something to work on for the next day. We were lucky to have the lead we had, but we won’t get away with that again.

“We fell asleep at the end. I am not sure what happened. We will go back and have a look at it. It is always good to have something to work on. You are learning every day. You are never complete. Every game you play, you learn something different.

“To score 3-14 is good, it will win most matches. But we must look at conceding 3-11. Look, we have to stuff to work on, and that might not be a bad thing. Our defence did well up to conceding the two goals at the end. Maybe it was a lack of concentration.

“The next round is fixed for September, so we will be looking forward to that. We don’t know our opponents yet. I think Mayfield play Kildorrery and the winners meet Éire Óg. We are playing whoever comes through that.

“That is another big game and we will prepare appropriately. It is great to be hurling into September. They are a super bunch of lads. The more we go on in the championship, the more we will be improving.

“We won the junior county in 2017, we have lost a lot of lads since then. But a lot of lads have stepped up as well. They have shown their mettle there again tonight. They showed they are a team that won’t go down easy, they will be there all the way. It is great to be involved with a team like that.”

Castlemartyr were missing a couple of key players.

“They were down the Lawton brothers (Brian and Barry). I got no joy from them being out. They are good guys, I know the Lawtons well.

“I don’t like to see any fella missing out, especially with your club. That is what you are brought up with and that you love.

“I’d like to have seen them play (Barry came on), you always want to see the best players out there.”