PIHC: Castlelyons cruise to victory over Ballymartle to book semi-final spot

Castlelyons 0-16 Ballymartle 0-7 

ON a wet and dreary Friday evening in Páirc Uí Rinn, Castlelyons finished comfortable winners to advance to the semi-final of the Premier Intermediate HC, at Ballymartle’s expense.

The Imokilly side will now face last year’s runner up Castlemartyr in the semi-final, as Alan Fenton ran the show against Ballymartle.

Ballymartle defended well, with Paidi Dorney and Eoghan O’Leary standing out on the night, but their lack of scoring threat gave them an insurmountable challenge.

Though the game opened up with three wides from Ballymartle, you could feel the intensity and what was at stake for the two clubs, as both sides got stuck in early.

Two frees from Alan Fenton gave the Imokilly side an early lead, but you could see that both teams were struggling to hit the mark, and it was quite clearly due to the dreadful conditions.

As Castlelyons dropped the ball into the Ballymartle square, it evaded keeper John McCarthy, and looked to be headed straight for the net. Anthony Spillane managed to flick it goalward, but a collective defensive effort from the Carrigdhoun side ensured it stayed out.

Within a minute they had to produce another desperate piece of defending, this time Eoghan O’Leary prevented the green flag, though Fenton did get the first score from play afterward, putting Castlelyons up 0-3 to no score after 10 minutes.

They traded frees, before Castlelyons got to grips with the conditions and took off.

Two frees from Fenton preceded one from Darren McCarthy, while quickfire scores from Fenton and James Kearney saw Castlelyons point the second and third scores from play on minute 26.

Brian Corry got one back for Ballymartle, their first from play but Fenton closed the half with his eighth score, leaving it 0-9 to 0-3 at the short whistle. The Riverstick side were left with plenty of work to do, having registered six wides in the opening half an hour.

The second half began with another Fenton free, before he followed up with one even better, raising the white flag from near the sideline of his own 65.

After another free from Fenton, Ballymartle looked like they were going to push on, as Luke O’Callaghan and Sean O’Mahony pointed. However, they remained unimpressive going forward, trailing 0-14 to 0-6 after 50 minutes.

The final 10 minutes saw Castlelyons score twice, while Ballymartle only managed one, just the ninth score from play on the night.

Scorers for Castlelyons: A Fenton 0-14 (0-10 f), J Kearney, D Morrison 0-1 each.

Ballymartle: D McCarthy (2f), S O’Mahony (2f) B Corry 0-2 each, L O’Callaghan 0-1.

CASTLELYONS: J Barry; C Spillane, C Barry, D Spillane; K O’Leary, N O’Leary, J O’Leary; J Kearney, A Fenton; P Roche, L Doocey, C McCarthy; D Morrison, A Spillane, O Hallihan.

Subs: S Moroney for J O’Leary (45), R Feeney for McCarthy (51), B O’Donovan for Hallihan (57), C McCarthy for Kearney (60+1).

BALLYMARTLE: J McCarthy; TJ Murphy, S Corry, E O’Leary; L Corry, J Dwyer, P Dorney; R Deasy, S Dorney; S Cummins, D McCarthy, B Geary; B Corry, R Cahalane, L O’Callaghan.

Subs: S O’Mahony for Geary, D Desmond for Cummins (both 37), C Lordan for O’Callaghan, N Crowley for Deasy (both 51).

Referee: Patrick O’Mahony (Kilbrittain)