Castlelyons hurlers impress on step up to Senior A by seeing off Fermoy
Castlelyons' Colm Spillane breaks out of defence to set up another attack during the SAHC game between Fermoy and Castlelyons at Rathcormac. Picture: David Creedon
Castlelyons finished comfortable winners over Fermoy in the first round of the Co-op Superstores Senior AHC on Friday night, putting themselves in a strong position in their derby-filled group of death.
While Castlelyons’ held a six-point lead at the break – their shooting return was poor, with five attempts short and nine wides in total.
Even though Fermoy only had four wides, they had just two points from play in the first half and looked devoid of ideas in the final third.
As expected Castlelyons kicked on in the second half, with a trio of scores from Fenton and one from play through Anthony Spillane putting them 10 ahead with only 42 minutes gone.
While a good point from Padraig De Róiste helped Fermoy’s cause, Castlelyons responded with a goal – as centre-back James O’Brien missed the ball, and it fell to David Morrisson who scooped it up, before surging at goal and finishing with ease.
Fermoy needed a miracle to get back into it and were helped by two frees from Darragh Daly and a couple of scores from substitute Martin Brennan, but the gap stood at eight points with just eight minutes to go.
Castlelyons continued to pick off points and defended well, and finished with the lead at seven as Anthony Spillane and Fenton kept the scoreboard ticking over.
Castlelyons’ gameplan worked well from the start – with Niall O’Leary operating as a sweeper, and his presence at the back made it very difficult for the Avondhu side to create anything, and he was helped by the fact former Cork senior Colm Spillane defended well in the number 6 slot.
Going forward, last year’s Premier Intermediate winners went long and direct with their puckouts and created a plethora of chances from it.
Castlelyons had a 0-4 to 0-3 lead after a quarter of an hour, but they kicked into gear for the remainder of the half as they hit 1-5 to Fermoy’s 0-3.
In the 22nd minute, a superb catch from Leon Doocey deep in Fermoy’s half on one of Jack Barry’s puck-outs allowed him to set up Keith O’Leary for a brilliant score, while a minute later, Eoin Maye got their first goal, as Leon Doocey gathered the result of a long puckout from Jack Barry and passed it off to Maye who finished brilliantly across goal.
Alan Fenton’s accuracy from frees as well as the constant threat provided by Leon Doocey and James Kearney in the half-forward area helped them to a 1-9 to 0-6 advantage at the interval, which they controlled for the remaining thirty minutes.
A Fenton 0-9 (0-4 f, 0-1 65), E Maye 1-1, K O’Leary 0-3, D Morrisson 1-0, A Spillane, J Kearney 0-2 each.
D Daly 0-8 (0-7 f), M Brennan 0-3, J Carr 0-2, P De Róiste, A Aherne, B O’Sullivan 0-1 each.
J Barry; N O’Leary, C Barry, O Hallihan; L Sexton, C Spillane, D Spillane; J Kearney, A Fenton; E Maye, K O’Leary, B Murphy; L Doocey, A Spillane, D Morrison.
A O’Sullivan for Maye (h-t, inj), C McCarthy for D Spillane (36), J O’Leary for Hallihan (47), B Spillane for Morrisson (59).
S Coughlan; L Aherne, T Clancy, G Lardner; D O’Carroll, J O’Brien, P De Róiste; D Daly, P Murphy; A Creed, B Daly, A Aherne; J Carr, D O’Callaghan, S Aherne.
K Morrisson for O’Callaghan (h-t), M Brennan for A Aherne, C Fitzpatrick for B Daly (both 36), J Molloy for Murphy (45), B O’Sullivan for S Aherne (48).
Canice Walsh (Nemo Rangers)
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