SAHC: Both camps happy with second chance after defences on top in drawn final

In the wake of the finale of the SAHC decider, there was an assumption that there might be a wait of at least a fortnight.

The Cork hurling team holiday to Cancún began yesterday, and Castlelyons’ Niall O’Leary and Bride Rovers’ Brian and Eoin Roche had been due to depart on it. However, in the SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh tunnel, it was ascertained that all of them were happy to put club business before county pleasure and so Saturday evening at 6.30pm was scheduled for the replay.

Naturally, both sets of management were able to take positives from the 0-14 each draw, while also targeting improvement for the second game.

Having seen his team come from four down with 12 minutes left to earn a draw, Castlelyons manager Michael Spillane was proud of the battling qualities shown but equally he knew that Bride Rovers could not be given a head-start again.

“The lads showed great character there today, I think both halves, really,” he said.

“Obviously, they [Bride Rovers] went up, it was 0-6 to 0-0 and 0-7 to 0-1, but in the second half of both halves, really, our lads did well, but if we start like that again next weekend, like they could be out the gap, you know.

“Obviously, that's a big work-on, so hopefully we'll find a few things in the video.” 

With the game originally set for October 18 but postponed due to the orange weather warning, the replay will be the third different date the game will have been set for. Spillane is glad that there is just a week between the two matches.

“Yeah, especially with the fact it was called off last week,” he said.

“Obviously, it was a bit of a downer last weekend, first of all, but then things picked up very well during the weekend, obviously, towards tonight.

“When there's no extra time and it's a local derby, there's always a chance it can be a draw. We're happy to have another chance overall anyway, and no real injury concerns, which is good, obviously.” 

Spillane’s opposite number, Stephen Glasgow, was able to take solace in the fact that, while his team didn’t hit the attacking highs they are capable of, they still avoided defeat.

“Exactly,” he said, “fourteen points is very low scoring for a hurling match - it just goes to show the work of both teams around the middle third.

“Our backs were on top for very long spells of the game, so yeah, we're going to have to work on our forward play.

“We're very happy with certain aspects of the game. The workrate was good and we were in their faces but then, on the flip-side, we hit some wasteful wides as well and that has to be looked at.” 

While they started well, they were never going to dominate the whole game. Nevertheless, the clock is back at zero.

“Teams always get a purple patch and they got theirs in the second half, reeling us back in,” Glasgow said.

“Last week, you thought it was going to be the end of the year, you thought tonight was going to be the end of the year. We go again. We just have to get on with it.”