William Buckley rescues a point for Barrs as Charleville rue missed chances
Charleville's Cathal O'Carroll gets the sliotar away from St. Finbarrs' Adam Buckley during the Red FM HL Division 1 game at Togher. Picture: Eddie O'Hare
The spoils were shared in Togher as St Finbarr’s and Charleville couldn’t be separated in their RedFM Division 1 Hurling League clash on Friday evening.
William Buckley’s fifth and final point from play drew the sides level for the ninth and last time at the 60 minute mark. The Barrs had a chance to win it but stellar defending from Jack Meade saw him dispossess Cork senior Jack Cahalane at the last second.
Jack Doyle surged forward on the counter attack for one final opportunity – but he couldn’t find a teammate with the handpass and they turned over possession. The draw was a just result.
The game high lead belonged to Charleville for four minutes, as they led by three in the 41st minute when Conor Buckley made it 0-12 to 1-6. At no other point was there more than two white flags between the teams.
The Barrs managed to get their second point of the half at the 45 minute mark when Ciaran Doolan picked out William Buckley. That cut the gap to two points.
The Barrs should have been in trouble at that stage, Charleville should have been out of sight. But six wides in the third quarter exceeded the 0-5 they had fired over on the restart and so the hosts were well within a chance.
Buckley’s score was the beginning of five-in-a-row from the Barrs – moving them 1-11 to 0-12 clear with just 10 minutes to go.
Scores from Andrew Cagney and the excellent Sean Bresnan drew Charleville level for a seventh time on 56 minutes.
Conor Buckley nudged the visitors in front, Conor McCarthy got one back. Conor Buckley would again move Charleville ahead, but William Buckley would salvage parity at the death.
It was a brilliant battle – even if both sides were far from their best on the evening.
The rain earlier in the day certainly played its part as St Finbarr’s finished with 13 wides, Charleville 15. Their concluding wide counts weren’t much of a surprise given how inaccurate both sides were in the opening 10.
They had a combined nine misses before Doyle landed his second point to move Charleville 0-2 to 0-1 ahead. Then, when the Barrs started firing, so did their north Cork opponents.
They quickly settled into a tit for tat shootout in the first half. The teams were level at four points apiece after 17 minutes.
Charleville broke the back and forth momentum as David Riordan and Doyle pointed to move the visitors two ahead, but Adam Buckley landed a score in response before teeing up Sam Cunningham for the only major on the stroke of half-time.
Moved out to corner-forward to nurse a muscle strain, Adam Buckley collected the sliotar out wide and fired it back across the pitch to the oncoming Cunnigham.
He picked it and buried it across goal, leaving the hosts with a 1-5 to 0-6 advantage after 28 minutes. That lead would last until half time, but no further than the 32nd minute when play resumed.
The room to roam that Doyle enjoyed in the first half disappeared in the second as he was well marshalled by Eoin Keane. Keane's efforts did a lot to help the Barrs – particularly when they were off the pace early in the second period.
Though plenty more drama would follow – this contest was always poised to end level.
W Buckley 0-10 (0-5 f), S Cunningham 1-1, A Buckley, J Cahalane, C McCarthy, J O’Brien 0-1 each.
J Doyle 0-8 (0-4 f), C Buckley, S Bresnan 0-3 each, A Cagney 0-2, D Riordan, K O’Gorman 0-1 each.
S Hurley; B O’Connell, E Keane, S Kennedy; A Barry, C Doolan, T Egan; C Steele, C McCarthy; A Buckley, J Cahalane, W Buckley; K O’Flynn, S Cunningham, C O’Connor.
J O’Brien for O’Flynn (HT).
C Reynolds; D Butler, J Meade, B O’Connell; A Dennehy, J Buckley, R Carroll; S Bresnan, C O’Carroll; D Riordan, C Buckley, J Doyle; G Gleeson, A Cagney, S Liddy.
M O’Flynn for O’Connell, J Madigan for Liddy (both HT), K O’Gorman for Riordan (45), J O’Brien for Gleeson (53).
Niall Fahy (Brian Dillons)
App?
