No shame in defeat for St Catherine's and Castlelyons in All-Ireland finals

EAST Cork clubs Castlelyons and St Catherine’s did their respective parishes proud despite coming up short in All-Ireland finals at Croke Park.

It wasn’t to be for two East Cork sides, as progressive off the pitch as they are on it, last Saturday night.

A pair of Kilkenny victories ended hopes of All-Ireland hurling silverware returning to leeside. 

Thomastown and Tullogher-Rosbercon ended the night as merited champions and leaving their respective opponents to rue what might have been.

Both finals mirrored one another in that each winner got off to a positive start and built on half-time leads before securing All-Ireland glory.

The three Donnelly cousins; Robbie, John and Stephen contributed 2-16 of Thomastown’s 2-23 total, helping them overcome Castleyons in the All-Ireland Intermediate hurling final.

A decent spread of eight different scorers ensured the Kilkenny club ran out merited winners. Compare that to Castleyons’ over reliance on Alan Fenton for over half their scores. 18 wides didn’t help the East Cork club’s cause either, but they dug in throughout a difficult evening and were only 5 points down at the break.

Thomastown dominated the third quarter however, and two late goals prevented any chance of an unlikely Castlelyons comeback.

Earlier in the evening, a sluggish start saw St Catherine’s trail Tullogher-Rosbercon 2-6 to 0-3 after 15 minutes of their All-Ireland junior hurling decider at the same Croke Park venue.

Prior to the opening whistle, Denis Walsh and Tadgh Óg Murphy’s side were already facing an uphill challenge to overcome their favoured Kilkenny opponents. Conceding early Marty Murphy and Walter Walsh green flags left the Munster junior hurling champions with too big a mountain to climb.

Unable to stem the tide, Tullogher-Rosbercon led by 11 points at the break before keeping their opponents at arm’s length to win by the same margin at the final whistle.

Far more dogged in the second half compared to their first half efforts, Catherine’s showed glimpses of their swashbuckling early season form. Yet, the fact their opponents won by such a wide margin, thanks in part to Cian O’Donoghue’s 0-10, as well as shooting 18 wides, means the Cork club could have no issue with the outcome.

Despite the defeat, St Catherine’s journey to this year’s All-Ireland final shows there is plenty of hurling talent within the Ballynoe, Conna and Glengoura parishes.

It is worth remembering that St Catherine’s produced an excellent run to this past year’s Cork Premier JHC county final, taking the notable scalps of St Finbarr’s, Russell Rovers and Glen Rovers along the way.

So, there is no reason why the Imokilly outfit cannot build on their provincial success and All-Ireland final appearance heading into the 2024 club championship.

The spine of a competitive team remains in goalkeeper Eoin Davis, centre-forward Rory Gavin, centre-back Oisin Fitzgerald as well as Daniel Mangan and Darragh Morrison from injury.

Whilst no doubt dissapointed on their long journeys home from Jones’s Road, Castlelyons and St Catherine’s will hopefully use the positives from their county, provincial and All-Ireland championship experiences to kick on in 2024.