Premier Junior Hurling: Catherine's knock out Russell Rovers in East Cork thriller
St Catherine's Eoghan O'Riordan tackles Russell Rovers' Ciaran Sheehan during the Co-Op Superstores Cork PJHC at Rostellan. Picture: Eddie O'Hare
ST Catherine’s edged their east Cork rivals Russell Rovers in Aghada on Friday evening in what was a thrilling and fiery contest to top Group C and knock out the Shanagarry side.
It was tense and agonisingly close contest between the two, who were never separated by more than four points throughout.
Daniel Mangan opened the scoring for St Catherine’s after good work from wing-back Oisin Fitzgerald, but Rovers replied with a free from Brian Hartnett, and took the lead through Mark Dwyer’s effort.
Catherine’s had struggled at this point, registering five wides in the opening seven minutes.
It got worse for the team in purple and gold, as Kevin Moynihan flicked the ball through to James Kennefick, who ran with it from beyond the 45, weaving through the Saints defenders as he went before drilling it into the bottom corner.
Catherine’s remained undeterred despite Kennefick’s sublime effort, and the teams twice traded scores, before Sean O’Donoughue’s free sparked a shift in momentum.
Saints got the next score after a fiery tussle, which saw Liam O’Connor emerge with the ball, before handpassing it to Matthew Mulcahy, who picked out O’Donoughue. The wing-forward pointed coolly.
An excellent score from Kyle Wallace meant the Saints had three on the bounce, and though the score was now 0-7 to 1-4 after 20 minutes of play, this only sparked Rovers into life.
They outscored Catherine’s 0-7 to 0-3 for the remainder of the half, with the pick of the scores being Hartnett’s beautiful strike from out wide that crept inside the posts.
Both teams struggled to come out with the same intensity for the second period, but Catherine’s were the better of the two, and they eventually drew level on minute 42.
Hartnett’s free put Rovers back in front, but Saints’ goalkeeper Eoin Davis pointed from a long-range free to level it again.
Kevin Barry’s point put Catherine’s ahead for the first time since the fourth minute.
Catherine’s led 0-17 to 1-13 with just 7 minutes to go, and as things flared up, there was a real sense of what was at stake between the east Cork rivals.
Rovers drew level on minute 58, but the Saints were revived at the death, scoring three without reply, giving their opponents a near-impossible task in injury time.
Though they struck back two scores to get within a point, Catherine’s held out for a huge win.
S O’Donoghue 0-10 (0-8 f), D Mangan 0-4, B Mulcahy 0-3, K O’Donoghue, E Davis (f), K Wallace, K Barry 0-1 each.
B Hartnett 0-6 (0-5 f), J Kennefick 1-0, L Duggan Murray 0-3 (0-1 f), K Moynihan, R Cummins, K Roche (f) 0-2 each, M Dwyer, J Beausang 0-1 each.
E Davis; L O’Connor, E O’Riordan, F O’Connell; O Fitzgerald, C Hegarty, K Neville; K Wallace, K O’Donoghue; D Mangan, R Galvin, S O’Donoghue; K Barry, M Mulcahy, B Mulcahy.
S Cotter for K O’Donoghue, E Wallace for Neville (both h-t), J Neville for O’Connell, W Leamy for M Mulcahy (both 56).
R Walsh; K Tattan, P Lane, J Ahern; J Kennefick, E O’Sullivan, F Murray; L Duggan Murray, D Moynihan; D Ruddy, K Moynihan, R Cummins; B Hartnett, C Sheehan, M Dwyer.
J McGrath for Ruddy (27), S O’Neill for Hartnett (48, inj), J Beausang for Kennefick, E Devaney for Ahern, K Roche for O’Neill (all 56), O’Neill for Cummins (60+3).
Pa Beausang (Midleton).
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