Glory for Lisgoold junior hurlers as they lift the county title for the first time
Lisgoold, captained by John Cronin, celebrate after they defeated Harbour Rovers. Picture: Larry Cummins.
Lisgoold 2-19 Harbour Rovers 0-16
LISGOOLD were crowned Cork Co-Op Superstores 2020 Cork Junior A county hurling champions following a magnificent win over Harbour Rovers at Páirc Uí Rinn on Saturday.
Despite putting in a serious first half shift Harbour Rovers faltered in the second as the Lisgoold outfit finished much stronger to win the John Quirke Cup for the first time in the club’s history.
In a welter of excitement, the East Cork side got off to a great start in the second minute when James O’Driscoll struck over a monstrous point from a very tight angle.
The Glanworth side looked well up for battle and they were back on level terms a minute later that Stephen Condon executed a point following a placed ball.
The battle for possession was intriguing and following a third Condon point in the sixth minute, the sides were level at three points each.
There is little doubt Lisgoold missed the cutting edge of Liam O’Shea after receiving a straight red card in their semi-final win over Dromtarriffee.
The game was still finely poised but then a came a moment that Harbour Rovers will rightfully feel aggrieved by as a point awarded to Lisgoold’s Jack Ryan looked from the press box to be wide by at least two feet.
On the next possession, an error by the Harbour Rovers keeper allowed Mark Hegarty an easy task of guiding the ball to the back of the net.
The only Harbour Rovers to score up to the 17th minute was Stephen Condon who had a six-point tally, but it was Lisgoold who had edged into a 1-7 to 0-6 lead.
On the restart the play from both sides got sloppy and after a free-flowing opening quarter, it was a dogged period with three yellow cards dished out.
The best point of the half was struck over by John O’Sullivan in the 23rd minute and when Condon added his seventh in the closing minute the deficit was reduced to two points.
Having witnessed a number of stoppages it was no surprise that seven minutes of added time was shown by the fourth official.
Incredibly the scoring talent of Condon continued and when he struck over his eighth point in the 34th minute the Rovers loyal fans were in rapture.
There was still time for one more as Condon ensured the teams would go in at the break level 1-7 to 0-10 with Lisgoold failing to score in the last 14 minutes of normal and the seven added.
The one plus for Lisgoold despite their 21-minute drought is they had the advantage of a strong breeze for the second half, but they needed to bring more intensity into their game.
The Rovers scoring spree continued on the restart and two excellent points from Padraig Hannon and David Pyne surged them into a 0-12 to 1-7 lead.
Finally, Lisgoold responded to the wake-up call and after going 26 minutes without a score John Cashman split posts in the 35th minute.
That gave the Lisgoold the spark they needed as Caolan O’Brien raised a second white flag two minutes later.
The pressure continued and dreadful Harbour Rovers defending allowed Jack Ryan to saunter through as his shot gave the keeper no chance.
Four consecutive points up to the water break put Lisgoold back in pole position as they commanded a 2-13 to 0-13 lead with 13 minutes remaining.
Tried as they did Harbour Rovers threw the kitchen sink at Lisgoold and when keeper Ciaran Cronin pulled off a miraculous save from a Padraig Hannon thunderous shot with 10 minutes remaining Lisgoold never looked back and in the end were worthy champions.
J Ryan 1-3, M Hegarty 1-3 (0-2 sl), J Cashman 0-5 (0-4 f), D O’Brien 0-3, C Hickey 0-2, J O’Driscoll, C O’Brien, J Cronin 0-1 each.
S Condon 0-12 (0-9 f), J O’Sullivan, P Hannon, D Pyne, S Dunne 0-1 each.
C Cronin; C Healy, C Cashman, C O’Shea; K Cashman, C Hickey, J Cronin; J Hegarty, C Scannell; J Ryan, C O’Brien, D O’Brien; J O’Driscoll, J Cashman, M Hegarty.
L Walsh for C O’Brien (58), B Whelan for D O’Brien (60), M O’Connell for C Cronin (60).
D O’Sullivan; B O’Keeffe, B Gallagher, P Blackburn; J Coughlan, T Condon, S Finn; E O’Donoghue, D Pyne; J O’Sullivan, P Condon, P Hannon; E Sheehan, S O’Riordan, S Condon.
C Dennehy for E O’Donoghue (inj 21), S Dunne for E Sheehan (inj 30), D Gallagher for C Dennehy (42), J Landers for B O’Keeffe (45), J Fitzgibbon for S Dunne (58).
Brendan Barry-Murphy (Aghabullogue).
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