HL Division 1: Carrigaline find their rhythm and bring down Fr O'Neill's
Fr O'Neill's Michael Wall is tackled by Carrigaline's Harry Andrews, during their Senior Hurling League clash at Carrigaline.
League games are full of surprises. This one in Carrigaline was no different on Thursday evening. The hosts – who were winless in both codes coming into this one – were able to take down RedFM Hurling League Division 1 leaders Fr O’Neill’s after a fantastic first half showing.
They did the heavy lifting in the first half with the wind. They kept Fr O’Neill’s to one first half score from play. Brian Kelleher excelled, Kevin Kavanagh was an imposing figure at centre-back.
Carrig led by five at the break. O’Neill’s were sharper on the restart, but still their shooting woes continued with all the possession they had in the first few minutes. Four shots returned four wides.
Kelleher and Eanna Desmond made it 0-13 to 0-6 in Carrig’s favour. The two would finish with five and six from play respectively. They were immense.
Kevin O’Sullivan’s frees kept O’Neill’s in play, but they were struggling to close the gap. Carrigaline needed this win and they weren’t going to let it slip away.
Ciaran Kearney assisted Desmond for a phenomenal score on 50 minutes, the Carrig centre-forward displaying immense control before slotting it between the posts. The gap then was at eight.
O’Neill’s got as close as four when substitute Patrick O’Leary split the posts in added time. But Kelleher got the insurance score from a free, while Thomas Vaughan added to their delight with a stunning point at the death.
Their 0-21 to 0-15 win was their first in Division 1, and they were fully deserving of it.
Fr O’Neill’s came into this one as table toppers, but had no answer for the defensive prowess of Kavanagh. O’Neill’s went long for the majority of their puckouts, but the imposing Kavanagh ensured that yielded little joy in front of the posts.
Fr O’Neill’s had one first half score from play. Defensively they were sound – but sloppy against the wind in the opening period. They shot six wides and four short in the first half hour. They swapped John Millerick and Conor O’Leary after a quarter of an hour. Still, they had no joy.
Carrig produced two stretches of control that set the pace. First in the 16th minute, reeling off three in a row with Desmond on target twice. O’Neill’s first score from play through James O’Brien preceded a Kevin O’Sullivan free. That left it 0-7 to 0-5.The visitors were still in the game.
Until the hosts fired off another four unanswered. Desmond, Rhys McCarthy, David Drake and Ronan Kelleher all on target.
Kelleher pulled the strings around the middle third as he so often does. But Carrig were popping up with scorers from all over. O’Neill’s couldn’t stop the bleeding.
O’Sullivan landed his fifth free in first half additional time. That brought the deficit down to five. The visitors were lucky not to see the deficit extended to eight after John Barry made a brilliant goal-line stop from Kevin O’Reilly.
The visitors were without Billy Dunne and Dan Harrington. It showed. They couldn’t spoil the Carrig party in the latter period.
B Kelleher 0-7 (2 fs), E Desmond 0-6, R McCarthy, D Drake 0-2 each, R Kelleher, T Vaughan, P Mellett, C Kearney 0-1 each.
K O’Sullivan 0-10 (8 fs), P O’Sullivan 0-2 f, J O’Brien, T O’Donoghue Brosnan, P O’Leary 0-1 each.
C McCarthy; D King, S Williamson, D Stack; H Andrews, K Kavanagh, C Vaughan; R Kelleher, P Mellett; B Kelleher (c), E Desmond, K O’Reilly; D Drake, R McCarthy, C Kearney.
C O’Farrell for O’Reilly (42), N O’Keeffe for Andrews (51), T Vaughan for Kearney (60).
P O’Sullivan; M Millerick, J Barry, M O’Neill; S O’Riordan, M O’Keeffe, D O’Neill; K O’Sullivan (c), J O’Brien; C O’Leary, P McMahon, R Cullinane; T O’Donoghue Brosnan, M Wall, J Millerick.
R Lowney for Wall (48), P O’Leary for Barry (51 inj).
Kevin O’Sullivan (Valley Rovers)
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