Manager Eddie Murphy hails Carrigaline after "historic night" to beat Fr O'Neill's

With the exception of Carrigtwohill who play their hurling at senior A level, the remaining eight RedFM Division 1 Hurling League teams are all two grades above Carrigaline.

Even if it may only be league, that is hugely challenging factor for the Carrigdhoun club. Last weekend on their own patch, they put on an exceptional performance to get the better of Fr O’Neill’s – recording their first win at the top flight in four attempts.

“First game against Carrigtwohill, they got a goal with the last puck to draw it. Blackrock and Douglas we went close but we were short a lot of players, nine or ten of them,” Murphy said after their victory over O’Neill’s. “We’d our strongest panel tonight of who’s available.

“We’re still missing a good few. I thought tonight was a great game. 

Fr O’Neill’s are a very good side and I thought we hurled superbly. 

On that Thursday night one of their most impressive performers was Kevin Kavanagh – the centre-back hugely impressive in the air on his return from injury. His ability to counter Fr O’Neill’s puckouts was one of the reasons Carrig were able to get to win.

“Kevin Kavanagh was an awful loss for us in the county final last year,” Murphy added. “His last game was Ballincollig in the semi-final last year, this is his first hurling game since October and he’s so vital to us in the absence of David Griffin. He’s a great player.

“He’s very vocal and he leads the back line well. But overall, there was a great effort made tonight. We knew we needed points, we had to win tonight to get on three points.

CHALLENGE

“We’d love to stay in Division 1 if we can – we realise it won’t be easy, we’ve the Glen next, then Sars, Kanturk, the Barrs, Charleville. They’re all top class games. It’s a great division to be in, we’re learning.

“When we played Blackrock – it took is 15 minutes to get to grips with the pace of the game. Then we got to pace we played well. Against Douglas, I felt we could have won the Douglas game. We threw away a few scores and fouled a bit too much.

“But I thought tonight was our best performance so far but we still have a lot to learn about Division 1 hurling,” he said. “It’s great to be in the division because you’re playing teams who are two grades above you. Fr O’Neill’s are two grades above us, they’re a very sporting team and a very good hurling side.

“It was a very good game overall, and we’re delighted to win. This is a historic night, we needed it.” Kavanagh wasn’t the only returning face to bolster Murphy’s Carrigaline side either.

“We gave games tonight to; Nathan O’Keeffe after being injured for a long time, Dan Greene [who] is back from Australia [and] Callum O’Farrell [who] is doing the leaving cert.

“We’re building depth, maybe it caught us last year; we hadn’t the depth. But we’re trying to get it this year. There’s still a long way to go, Fr O’Neill’s are a good side, a very good hurling side, it took us all we had to beat them but I felt on the night we were probably the better side and we deserved our victory.

“We’re still not the finished product. We’re getting there, we’re improving but we’ve still got a bit to go. We’ve a very tough group in the championship, we know that. We’re just trying to stay in Division 1, that’s our immediate aim.

The championship is not on our radar yet.

“We’re trying minimise mistakes and cut down the frees we’re giving, because every team at this level have a very good free taker.

“The difference is, when you make mistakes in Division 1, you’re punished. You might get away with it in Division 2 put you’re punished in Division 1.”