PSHC: Oran O'Regan strikes late as Erin's Own reel in Fr O'Neills
Erin's Own's Peter O'Shea about to clear the sliothar upfield ahead of Joe Millerick of Fr O'Neills. Picture: Howard Crowdy
IT was last-chance saloon for both Erin’s Own and Fr O’Neills in a dramatic East Cork derby on Sunday in the Premier Senior Hurling Championship but it wasn’t to be for either as a stalemate meant they would crash out as Charleville beat Douglas to qualify.
In one piece of good news for both, relegation is not a worry this time around.
Before anyone even had a chance to catch their breath the ball was rustling the back of the net. In the opening sequence of play the ball broke to John Millerick after a scramble in the middle of the park and with nearly 25 yards in front of him he burst forward and put the ball past Shay Bowen in the Erin’s Own net.
It was an electric start to proceedings but the game seemed to come to a halt after this for 15 minutes with both sides failing to convert their chances across the park.
O’Neills keeper Paudie O’Sullivan was called into action twice in three minutes with two fantastic saves from close range as the game began to come to life again.
Fr O’Neills joint captain Declan Dalton was making hay while the sun shone, scoring four brilliant long-range points in the first half, three of them from frees and adding a mightily important 1-6 to that tally in the second period.
O’Neills had the slightest of advantages going in at the break, one point ahead at 1-7 to 0-9. The second half had a lot more to offer from an entertainment perspective.
Declan Dalton got things up and running after the restart with a superb goal on 39 minutes. He beat two men down the right flank and, cool as you like, slotted it past a helpless Shay Bowen in the Erin’s Own net to give his side a three-point lead.
Essentially running the show in the second half, Erin’s Own needed to halt both Dalton and Fr O’Neills’ momentum, and quickly. And they did just that after 47 minutes when Ronan Twomey, quickest to a breaking ball in the box, smashed it high into the top left corner of the net, bringing it back to a two-point game.
The remainder of the second half was a battle of will and determination as the two sides from the East exchanged scores, blow for blow.
Finding themselves two points ahead with three minutes left on the clock it was a matter of holding out for O’Neills but Erin’s own Oran O’Regan had different plans, slotting over two eagle-eyed frees to tie it up and earn his side a point.
Even though the efforts of both sides might ultimately be in vein, the managers seemed optimistic. O’Neill’s manager Brian Sweeney mentioned afterwards how his side were there on merit and not by luck: "We can take stock in the fact that we’re in the top 12 teams in the county and we’ll be here again next year to go again."
Martin Bowen of Erin’s Own was equally positive about the prospects of next season and the progress of the season gone by: "We’d have loved to have gone through of course but we’ve avoided relegation which means we can have another crack at it next year."
E Murphy 0-7 (0-5 f), O O’Regan 0-6 (0-3 f, 0-1 65), R Twomey 1-2, K Murphy 0-2, P O’Shea and S Cronin 0-1 each.
D Dalton 1-10 (0-6 f), J Millerick 1-0, K O’Sullivan 0-3, J Hankard, Joe Millerick and M O’Keefe 0-1 each.
S Bowen; C Dooley, S Broderick, R O’Regan; S Cronin, J Sheehan, J O’Carroll; R Twomey, P O’Shea; S Guilfoyle, M O’Carroll, M O’Riordan; O O’Regan, E Murphy, K Murphy.
S Kelly for S Guilfoyle (41), C Lenihan for M O’Carroll (49), C Coakley for S Kelly (51), C O’Callaghan for E Murphy (54), C O’Connor for R O’Regan (55).
P O’Sullivan, M Millerick, E Motherway, J Barry; M O’Keefe, D Harrington, G Millerick; T Millerick, K O’Sullivan; Joe Millerick, D Dalton, J Hankard; John Millerick, C Broderick, B Dunne.
C Broderick for R Cullinane (h-t), A Kenneally for J Barry (54).
Cathal McAllister (Aghada).
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