North Cork U21 A HC: Shandrum surge into decider after dismantling Charleville
Turlough O'Neill clipped 0-6 from play for Shandrum. Picture Dan Linehan
No ambiguity, no ounce of doubt. Shandrum tore through Charleville in Mallow on Wednesday evening, a 21-point statement in the Hibernian Hotel North Cork U21 A semi-final that bordered on ruthless.
It was a game where Shandrum produced their very best, Turlough O’Neill clipping six from play, Eoin O’Mahony plundering 2-1, and Cork U20 star Johnny Murphy lording it across the hour, the beating heart of a performance high on tempo and purpose as they blitzed Charleville in the second half.
But it did not begin as a procession. Charleville landed the early blow, Gareth Gleeson rattling the net inside seven minutes to help them carve out a 1-2 to 0-3 lead. Twice they answered to level again, 1-3 to 0-6 by the 12-minute mark.
Shandrum hit three points in the next five minutes to move three clear, and while Charleville briefly got it down to the minimum, their opponents landed four of the next five points, and O’Mahony’s goal punctured any sense that it would be close in the second period, 1-13 to 1-6.
But Shandrum’s surge was relentless once it came. From there, it turned one-way. Shandrum outscored Charleville 1-12 to 0-1 in a second half, the Dromina trio of Murphy, Daniel O’Connell and Bobby Carroll impressive, Carroll and Jack Hogan dictating midfield while Eoin Sheedy was flawless at corner-back.
Charleville battled but were overwhelmed. Without the injured David Forde, they struggled, though goalkeeper Scott Berry kept the scoreboard from swelling further with a string of fine saves.
Zack Biggane impressed in and out of possession, but the gap in punch was stark.
Shandrum, chasing four-in-a-row at this grade, now roll into a final with Mallow in Milford (2pm) on Saturday, and they do so looking as equipped as ever to finish the job.
“We always take the U21 competition seriously,” said Shandrum manager Willie O’Mahony. “We’ve Mallow now in the final, we’re chasing four in a row now. We always have standards, every night we go out. We’ve worked hard for this, put serious sessions in and played plenty of challenge games to sharpen ourselves.
“For us, this competition is a building block, a way of pushing lads on and preparing players for senior hurling. And having dromina boys in with us is a huge lift, they’re quality players to have.”
E O’Mahony 2-1, T O’Neill 0-6, J Murphy (0-2 f), B Carroll (0-1 f) 0-5 each, L Coughlan 0-3, C Quinn 0-2, J Hogan, R Troy 0-1 each.
R Carroll 0-5 f, J Jones 1-0, S Bresnan, Z Biggane 0-1 each.
D O’Connell; E Sheedy, T McCarthy, S O’Leary; D Ryan, B Collins, S Minihane; J Hogan, B Carroll; J Murphy, R Troy, T O’Neill; L Coughlan, C Quinn, E O’Mahony.
E Walsh for Minihane (44), B Jordan Reidy for Troy (52), P Twohill for Sheedy, L O’Mahony for Murphy (both 54), JD Egan for Coughlan (56).
S Berry, C O’Flynn, B Crowley, T Begley; R Carroll, S Bresnan, B Kiely; K O’Gorman, D Waters; L Almeida, Z Biggane, D Kent; G Gleeson, DJ Collins, J Jones.
O Biggane for D Kent, B O’Donovan for Begley, C Hickey for L Almeida.
D Copps (Ballyhea)
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