SAHC: Na Piarsaigh hurlers will be so deflated after missing out
Na Piarsaigh's selector John Gardiner says 'it's wide' to referee Ciaran O'Regan against Killeagh. Picture: Eddie O'Hare
THE Cork Senior A Hurling Championship may be the second tier of Cork club hurling, but on Saturday evening, right throughout the county, it proved to be pure Box Office.
There were effectively two straight knockout games in Groups A and B, with the Na Piarsaigh versus Killeagh clash in Cobh in Group B being particularly thrilling, as Blarney pulled away from the spirited challenge of Ballyhea up in Mourneabbey, while Group C also got in on the drama, with a right lunge for the line occurring between Cloyne and Fermoy.
The Group A shootout was between Na Piarsaigh and Killeagh, with their fixture ending up in a 1-19 to 1-19 draw, which meant Killeagh rather than the city men marched onto the business end of the championship.
Three successive scores from Daire Connery, Eoin Moynihan and Evan Sheehan late on seemed to have won the day for Na Piarsaigh, but they hadn’t accounted for Killeagh full-back Padraig O’Brien, who was on hand to scramble home a last-gasp equalising goal that sent the East Cork village into raptures and secured them a quarter-final spot.
Na Piarsaigh, on the other hand, will have made the journey to the northside of the city in deflated mood, as their bid to make an immediate return to the Premier Senior grade ended in the group stage, but in the smallest and most painful of margins.
In Group B Blarney proved to have too much firepower for Ballyhea in their kill-or-be-killed clash.
Shane Barrett was extremely influential throughout. He obviously scored 0-14 for Blarney on the night but it was his work-rate and industry that really stood out, particularly in the first half. He seems to have added a few kgs to his frame, which has helped him in the midfield role that he is being deployed in this year for his club. The position certainly suits him.
The game swung on Blarney being punished for a puck-out being adjudged to not have gone the requisite distance – a decision that left the Ballyhea contingent incensed - and from the resultant throw ball Blarney managed to engineer a goal for the impressive young substitute Eoghan Kirby. An injury suffered by key attacker Pa O’Callaghan, at the same time as Eugene O’Leary had smashed the sliotar to the back of Blarney’s net, had also been a key moment.
Kirby had just entered the fray, so scored pretty much straight after coming on, and he had been introduced at the same time as a certain Mark Coleman, and the two subs had a huge influence in Blarney pulling clear in that third quarter. Kirby scored two excellent goals, while Coleman landed a pair of beauties from way out the field to announce his return from a long injury lay-off.
In Group C Fermoy did what they had to do against top side Carrigtwohill, but Cloyne’s two-point win over Mallow meant that it will be the Imokilly men who qualify for the knockout stages thanks to having a two-point superior scoring difference. Like Na Piarsaigh, Fermoy cruelly learned how such small margins can cost you your year.
Carrigtwohill and Newcestown both did their best to blow the automatic semi-final spot, as both managed to lose their Round 3 ties. Carrigtwohill ended up getting that spot on the basis of a superior points difference, but Newcestown will be kicking themselves, given that they are one of the busiest clubs in Cork due to their dual mandate. They certainly could have done without a quarter-final game against Killeagh.
That fact probably makes them favourites for the championship right now, but if Saturday showed us anything then it showed us that any side left in this championship is capable of beating the others.
Therefore, we can expect a few more thrillers before we learn which of the six remaining clubs will jump up to the Premier Senior grade next year.
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