Champions: Castlemartyr up the gears to beat rivals Russell Rovers
Castlemartyr celebrate their win over Russell Rovers in the LIHC final at Páirc Uí Rinn. Picture: Jim Coughlan.
Castlemartyr 1-20 Russell Rovers 0-11
CASTLEMARTYR were crowned Co-Op Superstores Lower Intermediate Hurling champions following a comfortable win over East Cork neighbours Russell Rovers in a one-sided final at Páirc Uí Rinn on Saturday.
In a game that was expected to go to the wire, Russell Rovers never got motoring at all in the second half, with their rivals cruising to the county title. Rovers certainly played competitive hurling in the first half, but the loss to ace forward Josh Beausang derailed them and they didn’t register a score in the second half until the final minute.
The victory made it a memorable six weeks to remember for Cork U20 Ciarán Joyce, who landed two All-Irelands before returning to help his club to county glory. Veteran Barry Lawton hit three points from play while sub Jack McGann sealed the deal with 1-2 in the last quarter.
Castlemartyr were quickest into their stride and consecutive points from Mike Kelly and Barry Lawton gave them the perfect start in the opening two minutes.
Russell Rovers didn’t panic, and they responded with a brace of Beausang white flags that had the teams on parity in the fourth minute. Rovers were putting serious pressure on the Castlemartyr defenders and it reaped dividends in the eighth minute when Kevin Moynihan flicked over a point following a turnover.
Strangely, Castlemartyr strategy played a lot of the ball down the centre, despite looking far stronger on the wings.
The hurling was crisp and fast and just before the water break in the 17th minute, Mike Kelly ran at the Rovers defence to drill over a fabulous point from an acute angle that reduced the deficit to the minimum 0-6 to 0-5.
Kelly was on hand again to level the game on the restart but some sloppy defending allowed Beausang to nail consecutive frees that edged Russell Rovers into a two-point lead.
The play was equivalent to a tennis match as the play was back and forward and Castlemartyr responded to level the game seven minutes from the interval with Kelly and Niall Madden splitting the posts and when Kelly registered his sixth point the advantage was back with Castlemartyr.
The closing minute saw both teams waste good possession, but it was Castlemartyr who had the last say with Barry Lawton striking over a beauty deep into added time that saw his side lead 0-10 to 0-9 at the interval.
Castlemartyr started the second half when extending their lead to three points in the 32nd minute as Russell Rovers looked to be struggling in the early exchanges.
The loss of Russell Rovers full-forward Beausang was a massive blow for sure, but some of their play was careless and sloppy with Castlemartyr winning the majority of the dirty ball too.
We had to wait until the 42nd minute to witness the best score of the game and it came courtesy of the Cork U20 centre-back Joyce. He Joyce soloed 40 yards before striking a sublime point 60 yards from goal.
Up to the water-break in the 48th minute, Russell Rovers hadn’t scored and trailing 0-16 to 0-9 they needed a huge improvement to get back in the game. Rovers' game-plan was mastered to perfection by the resilient Castlemartyr defence who shut down their forwards without main man Beausang.
The introduction of Jack McGann in the 44th minute proved a crucial move for Castlemartyr as he immediately drilled over consecutive classy points.
The substitute wasn’t finished there as he showed incredible class that had the Castlemartyr faithful in raptures. Grabbing a ball he rounded his man marker before unleashing an unstoppable shot to the corner of the net.
When the final whistle sounded it was clear Castlemartyr were relieved and overjoyed as they are determined to make a mark in the Intermediate grade.
The celebrations will be short-lived as they have an early September clash with Douglas that will get their 2021 campaign off to an interesting start.
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