Jack Doyle's 1-9 inspires Charleville to comfortable victory over Blackrock in Division 1 HL
Charleville's Jack Doyle shoots from Blackrock's Lee O'Sullivan during the RedFM HL division 1 game at Charleville. Picture: Eddie O'Hare
A fine performance at home on Sunday morning saw Charleville beat Blackrock by nine points in the RedFM Division 1 Hurling League.
The usual early season absentees were expected, the spring sunshine wasn’t. Both sides were without a host of key players. The visitors suffered more so in that regard.
Still, Charleville were without Andrew Cagney. Tim Hawe was withdrawn in the first half with a hamstring concern.
Two factors which made Charleville’s half time lead all the more impressive. The difference stood at 10 points by the short whistle. It remained strong at nine by conclusion, after a gruelling physical battle.
The absence of Hawe and Cagney left Jack Doyle to carry the brunt of Charleville’s challenge. And he excelled.
The sharpshooter finished with 1-5 from play. Doyle torched the Rockies at every opportunity, until his withdrawal in the 44th minute.
While Doyle was the main scorer – he was duly assisted by wing-backs Alan Dennehy and Rob Carroll who combined for 0-6. They were superb at both ends of the field, and they worked the wings well.
But it was Tim Hawe’s replacement, Kristian Gorman, who helped Charleville put the game to bed early in the second period.
The Rockies had emerged from the break in better shape. Four white flags in a row unopposed proved that, while PJ Linehan forced a good save from Conor Reynolds. The city side had cut Charleville’s advantage to six.
But Charleville’s first score of the half was the killer punch. Gorman picked out Doyle, who belted the sliotar across goal and into the bottom corner. That left it 2-15 to 0-12, until 29 seconds later – when Gorman got his first of three points.
In under a minute the north Cork side had undone Kevin O’Keeffe and Tadhg Deasy’s efforts to get the Rockies back in with a chance.
Ten points the difference – Doyle wasn’t finished. He darted out wide, calling for the ball. Lee O’Sullivan and Deasy tried to pin him out by the sideline. With seemingly nowhere to go, Doyle went straight through them. He played a quick one-two with Darren Casey.
In front of the posts uncontested – he made no mistake and sent it over. Hammer. Nail. Coffin.
Blackrock were sloppy. Blackrock were rusty. But Doyle was unmarkable.
He toyed with the visitors, until Charleville deemed they had suffered enough. By that stage the lead was 10.
The Rockies hardly dented it in the final quarter, and it reached a game high 12 in the 60th minute. Three late efforts from Fionn Coleman, two of those from frees left it 2-22 to 0-19 at the final whistle.
The Rockies scored only four from play in the first half. Just once between throw in and the 28th minute.
When Linehan did get their second point from play, the score stood at 1-11 to 0-6. They were chasing shadows at that stage.
Two quickfire bursts sent Charleville on their way. They hit three scores in as many minutes. A Ryan Sweeney free followed, but Charleville replied with another treble of white flags. This time in the space of two minutes.
The north Cork side were much slicker. Their first goal was proof of that. Casey finished off a neat team move in the 25th minute to propel them seven ahead.
And they never looked back.
J Doyle 1-9 (0-3 f, 0-1 65), R Carroll 0-4 (0-1 f), K Gorman 0-3 (0-1 f), D Casey 1-0, A Dennehy (0-1 f), S Bresnan 0-2 each, T Hawe, D Riordan 0-1 each.
K O’Keeffe 0-8 (0-5 f), R Sweeney 0-4 f, F Coleman 0-3 (0-2 f), PJ Linehan 0-2, T Deasy, D O’Farrell 0-1 each.
C Reynolds; D Butler, J Meade, J Kilcommins; A Dennehy, J Buckley, R Carroll; C O’Carroll, S Bresnan; D Casey, C Buckley, J Doyle; D Riordan, T Hawe, G Kelleher.
K Gorman for Hawe (24 inj), C Collins for Reynolds (38), G Gleeson for Kelleher (42), B O’Connell for Doyle, M O’Flynn for Kilcommins (both 44), S Liddy for Riordan (51), J O’Brien for C Buckley (55), C Cagney for Butler (58).
R Browne; J Golden, A O’Callaghan, S Healy; L O’Sullivan, J Cashman, T Deasy; N Cashman, O McAdoo; D Cormack, K O’Keeffe, D O’Farrell; R Sweeney, F Coleman, PJ Linehan.
J O’Sullivan for O’Farrell (50), R Laide for Healy, J Ryan for Cormack (both 53), E Cantwell for L O’Sullivan (55).
Ciarán Murphy (Glanworth)
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