Alan Walsh fires Kanturk past Charleville after Premier Senior Hurling classic

Kanturk 4-20 Charleville 3-21 

Kanturk are through to the knockout stages of the Co-op Superstores PSHC for the first time after a titanic struggle with Charleville in Buttevant on Sunday afternoon.

Goals win games but on this occasion Charleville had three and still lost – to be fair, Kanturk had four – one from Rory Sheehan and a hat-trick from Alan Walsh – a wonderful display bagging 3-3 from the Kanturk corner-forward.

Charleville were first to raise a green flag, Tim Hawe making no mistake inside 30 seconds. David Forde has seen his effort cleared off the line but Hawe was to make no mistake – the perfect start for the Avondhu men.

Hawe was impressive throughout for the men in red while Darragh Fitzgibbon was on song to drive his side on in the second half in what was a wonderful display of hurling from both sides.

Charleville also had Conor Buckley, Danny O’Flynn and Forde on song with keeper Cian Collins making two top-class saves. For Kanturk, Alan Walsh gave a masterclass of attacking hurling with Aidan Walsh, Ian Walsh and Lorcán McLoughlin going really well in a game that had it all.

Brian O’Sullivan in the middle was also impressive however centre-forward Lorcan O’Neill must take great credit for the win as he dug deep from the first to the final whistle – a true leader's display.

Kanturk’s Brian O’Sullivan was proving lethal from placed balls –and the sides level with 10 on the clock - Hawe again landed a sucker punch on the Duhallow lads with his second major of the game – Kanturk looking vulnerable at the back every time Charleville entered the attacking third.

Five points on the bounce in five minutes pushed Charleville into a five-point lead but again not surprisingly Kanturk hit back, this time a couple of O’Neill efforts and 1-1 from Rory Sheehan put the game back in the melting pot.

Kanturk leading at the break (1-14 to 2-8).

Forde raised green moments after the ball was thrown in again to level the tie and again Charleville made a break for home from a long way out.

Fitzgibbon hit eight second-half points with Hawe and Buckley also chipping but Alan Walsh would turn this one in 90 seconds with a brace of goals – Charleville rocked but not out. Walsh’s third goal was pure class.

Charleville will need to regroup to stay in the division – Kanturk will look to progress – and on this performance, they have all the elements required.

Scorers for Kanturk: Alan Walsh 3-3; B O’Sullivan 0-6 (0-4 f), R Sheehan 1-1, L O’Neill 0-4, Aidan Walsh 0-3, I Walsh 0-2, T Walsh 0-1.

Charleville: D Fitzgibbon 0-10 (0-6 f), T Hawe 2-2, C Buckley 0-5, D Forde 1-0, O O’Connell, D Casey, J O’Brien, D O’Riordan 0-1 each.

KANTURK: G Bucinskas; J McLoughlin, J Browne, C Mullane; L McLoughlin, R Walsh, T Walsh; B O’Sullivan, P Walsh; R Sheehan, L O’Neill, Aidan Walsh; Alan Walsh, L O’Keeffe, I Walsh. 

Sub: J Fitzpatrick for L O’Keeffe (44).

CHARLEVILLE: C Collins; D Butler, F Cagney, J Madigan; A Dennehy, D O’Flynn, R Carroll; O O‘Connell, D Fitzgibbon; G Kelleher, C Buckley, D Casey; A Cagney, D Forde, T Hawe. 

Subs: D O’Riordan for G Kelleher (inj, 25), B O’Connell for R Carroll (h-t), R Carroll for J Madigan (50).

Referee: Cathal McAllister (Aghada)