Purple reign as Castlelyons book Munster Club IHC final spot

It was a case of purple reign for East Cork sides in the AIB Munster Club intermediate and junior hurling championships at the weekend.

On Saturday, St Catherine’s – clad in their usual purple and gold – beat Tipperary’s Ballinahinch to reach the JHC decider. Then, the following day, Castlelyons made the trip to Mountcoal in North Kerry to take on local side Crotta O’Neills.

With Crotta’s jersey being a Mayo-like green with a red hoop, there was a toss to see who would change and Castlelyons lost, meaning that they wouldn’t wear the Kerry colours in the Kingdom.

Instead, they donned their alternative set of shirts. While the hue looked unusual, there was a reason to it – sponsors Zeus Packaging have run a number of purple-based promotions for Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin and this was to show support for those.

Despite the unfamiliar outfit, the Castlelyons performance was full of the usual resilience, not least in coming from seven points down at half-time, after playing against the wind, to win after extra time.

The final score was 2-22 to 2-18 in favour of the newly minute county premier intermediate champions and that was their biggest lead at any stage. Naturally, selector Brendan Hoare was delighted.

“It was a real test of everything,” he said, “our fitness, our hurling, our character.

“We didn’t under-estimate Crotta. People were saying that we were favourites with the bookies and all these things – genuinely, we had seen plenty of Crotta and we know that they’re a serious team.

“There was nothing surprising about what they threw at us. They hung in there and when we got on top in the second half we couldn’t pull away.

“But we’re battle-hardened and all year we’ve had games like that – the semi-final against Castlemartyr and the final against Kilworth were similar.

“Even then, we had to go into extra time and there were fellas cramping but to come out the right side of a game in North Kerry in those circumstances was really pleasing.”

The concession of two first-half goals left Castlelyons trailing by 2-9 to 0-6 but Alan Fenton’s goal before the half-time break was important in giving a boost as they came in.

“We were very satisfied with how we played, how we planned to play against the breeze,” Hoare said.

“It was the concession of the goals, especially the second one as it was so soft. We knew that if we were within touching distance going in at half-time, we should push on in the second half with that sort of a breeze.

“Alan’s goal was massive. He really grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and there was a huge swing factor – just the time he got it and we needed those three points on the board as well.

“That was the pleasing thing coming in.”

In the second half, Castlelyons had heroes everywhere, not least at the back where Colm Barry was excellent. His brother Jack in goal scored three points as his already-long puck was turbo-charged by the wind – he scored a free, one from play and one directly from a puckout as well as assisting the second goal, scored by Leon Doocey.

“It was outstanding,” Hoare said.

“We know he’s a threat, he’s very good short or long, in fairness to him.

“He’s after a great year, he made a big save late on too, he had a huge game.

“We knew that was a factor and we needed every score – not to mind every score counted, every play counted, it was just that type of game. It was such a battle.”

Now, the journey continues, with Castlelyons taking on Clare’s Corofin in the final.

“That’s what we’ve said all year, since getting to the knockout stages of the county championship,” Hoare said.

“It’s just about extending it by two weeks, keeping going down to the pitch.

“It’s brilliant and what an occasion it was, what an atmosphere. We knew that all of the external factors were going to be against us so we said during the week that we were going to go down and embrace it and enjoy it.

“If we could get a win, it would be one to remember and take with us.”