East Cork JAHC: Killeagh thump Carrigtwohill to book quarter-final
Carrigtwohill's Cillian Barry, pictured here against Douglas during the RedFM Division 1 Hurling League earlier this year, scored 0-8 from play.
Despite neither side posting a win prior to their East Cork Oil Junior A Hurling Championship meeting in Cloyne, the nature of the Jamesy Kelleher Cup competition means that both had a shot at reaching the quarter-final, with the loser facing Fr O’Neill’s in the relegation playoff.
And so, it was Killeagh who got it right, running away with it in the second half to score a 16-point victory over Carrigtwohill, setting up a repeat of last year’s final against Carraig na bhFear, while for Carrig, and for manager Stephen Kidney, it means the hard yards of another relegation battle, just as it did 12 months ago.
“We thought we’d definitely do better than [we did] today,” Kidney admitted after the loss. “Christ, like we lost the last game against Cobh by 13, and we probably weren’t 13 points worse than them.
“We thought we could turn it around today, but very disappointed to be honest, to be facing into relegation again.” Killeagh never looked likely to be beaten. They led by six at the break, 1-12 to 0-9, the goal from Matthew Murphy who seized a loose ball, beat his man and lashed it to the corner just before half-time.
On the restart they added the first three points to stretch it to nine. Cillian Barry briefly dragged Carrigtwohill back into it, intercepting Mike Fitzgerald and clipping over to reach five from play. But within a minute Killeagh had landed a hammer blow, Dan Landers pouncing on a favourable break and pulling first time to the net, 2-15 to 0-10.
Killeagh tacked on two more to push the gap to 13, but Barry and Mark O’Connor – having both impressed for Carrig’s seniors in the league – lit a flicker of hope with a combined 1-4 unanswered.
O’Connor assisted Barry for the first white flag, before converting 1-1 from frees, the goal arriving in the 43rd minute, after Alex Kidney was fouled and O’Connor blasted home from close range. Barry would land two more points to shave the margin to six with 16 to go, but that was as close as Carrigtwohill would get.
For all Barry’s efforts – a remarkable haul of 0-8 from play – in the final quarter, Killeagh hit a devastating gear, outscoring Carrig 1-8 to 0-1.
Andy Leahy, steady and sharp all evening, lit the counter-surge, clipping three of his five points in a burst of five without reply. The third goal crowned it, though. Leahy turned provider for Sean Walsh, who skipped through three Carrig defenders in the 59th minute and buried low into the corner.
The foundations were set long before the finish. Killeagh bolted six ahead without reply, Carrigtwohill trimming it back to 0-7 to 0-4 and still in touch approaching the break, until Matthew Murphy’s major shoved the gap back out to six.
From there, the hill only grew steeper. Carrig clung as best they could, but in the final quarter they withered as Killeagh strode away.
For Ger Fitzgibbon’s side, progression wasn’t the only thing that mattered, but restoring a little pride 24 hours after the club’s seniors had been dumped out of the Senior A championship, by the same opposition.
“We’re very happy, their work rate was really good, we got good scores, and the lads applied themselves well and that’s the most pleasing aspect to us,” Fitzgibbon said post-match.
“It was important to us to give a good performance tonight. We had lost our senior championship match last night, and this is our second team obviously, a good performance, but the result is more important to us.”
D Landers 1-7 (0-3 f), A Leahy 0-5, S Walsh 1-2, K Budds 0-4, M Murphy 1-0, K Murphy, P Mackey, J Fogarty 0-2 each, D Walsh 0-1.
C Barry 0-8, M O’Connor 1-6 (1-4 f, 0-1 65), A Browne 0-1.
F Murphy; G Lehane, C Coughlan, A Morrisson; G Walsh-Wallace, K Murphy, R Treacy; M Fitzgerald, K Budds; D Landers, J Fogarty, S Walsh; P Mackey, M Murphy, A Leahy.
D Walsh for M Murphy (46), D Motherway for Landers (52), P Leahy for Morrison (53), D Smiddy for Walsh-Wallace (57), A Fitzgibbon for Fogarty (59).
C Keegan; S Allen, S Ahern, D Joseph; N Coughlan, D Rooney, D Nolan; N Harte, R Power; A Browne, S O’Sullivan, C Flynn; C Barry, P Downey, M O’Connor.
A Kidney for O’Sullivan (11 inj), T O’Sullivan for Flynn, J Tynan for Downey (46), J Scully for Harte (52), O Lynch for Browne (56).
C McAllister (Aghada)
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