Five-star Sars too slick for Carrigtwohill as Daniel Hogan grabs a hat-trick

Sarsfields 5-18 Carrigtwohill 0-15

A hat-trick from Daniel Hogan eased Sars past Carrigtwohill in the Co Op Superstores Premier Senior Hurling Championship at Caherlag on Sunday afternoon.

This game looked over at the break, when Sars commanded an 11-point lead, but credit to Carrigtwohill: They battled hard, before succumbing to the power of their opponents.

Despite the comfortable win, the Sars manager, Barry Myers, wasn’t getting carried away and praised the spirit shown by Carrigtwohill in the second half.

Myers said: “We looked to be cruising at half time, with an 11-point lead, but credit to Carrigtwohill: They showed incredible intensity and we were made battle to the wire.”

The Riverstown side have two wins and their last group game, against Midleton, should be cracking.

Despite going in as outsiders, Carrigtwohill were more than up for this game, with careless Sars fouling allowing Liam Gosnell to punish them with three points in the opening 10 minutes.

Sars looked shell-shocked by their opponent’s intensity, but they got a fortunate break, when Liam Healy got in behind their defence, but was hauled down en route to goal.

Up stepped Aaron Myers, who blasted the ball to the roof of the net.

The game was still finely balanced up to the 14th minute, but one moment of artistry punished Carrigtwohill: Cork star Jack O’Connor gathered the ball 50 yards from goal, before soloing and billowing the roof of the net with a ferocious strike.

Sars pushed on as the Carrigtwohill defence looked shaky and punished them two minutes from the interval when Daniel Hogan blasted home an opportunist goal. Sadly for O’Connor, he pulled a hamstring and had to be replaced before the break, but he will pose the majority of defences problems in this championship.

It got worse for Carrigtwohill on the stroke of half time, when Hogan showed sheer precision with an exquisite strike that ensured Sars went in leading 4-9 to 0-8 at the break.

Surprisingly, on the resumption, the Sars intensity dropped and Carrigtwohill drew first blood, with a Gosnell point following a free.

The pendulum had swung in Carrigtwohill’s direction, but their problem was putting scores on the board and Sars, after going seven minutes without a score, ended their drought with a classy Myers white flag.

Although Sars were giving their all, they were losing the majority of dirty ball and with Carrigtwohill’s best player, Sean Walsh, tallying five consecutive points, they certainly didn’t look a side about to throw the towel in.

The one player that Sars can rely on when the going gets tough is the former Cork star, Daniel Kearney, and he showed his class to steady the ship with a superb long-range point. For the second consecutive week, Aaron Myers has led the Sars scoring and his striking was superb.

Barry Myers has a good mixture of experience and youth in his team and in Daniel Hogan he has a goal poacher supreme.

A poor clearance from the Carrigtwohill defence was pounced on by Hogan, who completed his hat-trick in the closing minutes.

Upwards and onwards for the Riverstown unit, as they look a side that tick many boxes in their quest for championship honours.

Scorers for Sarsfields: D Hogan 3-0, A Myers 1-9 (1-0 pen, 0-6 f), D Kearney 0-5, J O’Connor 1-0, J Sweeney 0-3, P O’Driscoll 0-1.

Carrigtwohill: S Walsh 0-7 (0-3 f), L Gosnell 0-5 (0-4 f), B Twomey, L O’Sullivan, S Devlin (f) 0-1 each.

SARSFIELDS: A Kennedy; C McCarthy, E Murphy, W Kearney; K Crowley, C Leahy, C Roche; C Darcy, D Kearney; J Sweeney, K Murphy, L Healy; D Hogan, J O’Connor, A Myers.

Subs: L Hackett for J O’Connor (inj 30), D Roche for K Murphy (43), P O’Driscoll for L Healy (52), B Nodwell for C Darcy (54).

CARRIGTWOHILL: S Devlin; S De Burca, P Hogan, P O’Sullivan; T Hogan, A Walsh-Barry, J Oke; B Twomey, J Horgan; S Walsh, D Joseph, S Rohan; L Gosnell, L O’Sullivan, J Mulcahy.

Subs: R Power for D Joseph (h-t), J McCarthy for S Rohan (47), J Carroll for B Twomey (51).

Referee: Dave Daly (Brian Dillons).