Carrigtwohill continuing to take the positives from Division 1 campaign

While the result may not have gone the way of Carrigtwohill at home to Sarsfields on Sunday morning, there were more than a few positives to take.

The home side lost by 1-19 to 0-16 against their neighbours, who have won the last three league titles as well as being county champions in two of those years.

With Carrigtwohill battling for the senior A championship, exposure to top-flight opposition can only benefit them, according to manager Denis Walsh.

“We're thrilled with that performance,” he said, “they’re the best team in Cork.

“Sars came down here last year and beat us by about 18 points or something. Okay, we were missing a good few fellas on the night and we were already safe in the league, but still.

“For us now to be up against a Sars team that came fully-loaded, they were missing hardly anybody, and for our fellas to perform like that, as they did – we got a bit tired in the last ten minutes and they kind of wore us down, a few mistakes just through tiredness.

“A few mistakes crept into our game, but for 45, 50 minutes, we were there with them – we were in front after 40 minutes still, before the goal.

“The goal was just a touch of class, pure class, and that was the killer score in the game, but up to that, we were right in the fight.

“As our coach Johnny Dwyer said to the boys, that's worth 20 training sessions to us. 

We’re up against, not just the best team in Cork but one of the best teams in Munster.

“We're obviously playing at a lower level in the championship to them, so it's a huge thing for our fellas now to be able to go out there and compete with them for as long as we did.”

Walsh is quick to credit Ballincollig native Dwyer for the job he has done since coming in as coach. Last year, the club reached the SAHC semi-finals and are working from a strong platform in the management’s second season in charge.

“Johnny has made a transformative impact,” Walsh said.

“He made a huge impact on us last year, straightaway – obviously, we've had excellent guys before him as well, who've put down a foundation too – but like, as I said, in terms of our performance against Sars, this was a real level up from last year.

“For us to be in Division 1 in the league, as I keep on saying, it's a stretch for us, but we think it's worked, because of these games.

PRESSURE

“We're under pressure physically and our hurling's under pressure. We were missing four or five on Sunday, through injury and various things and we wouldn't have the same depth, obviously, of Sars or other teams like Midleton.

That game was worth a fortune to us.”

With six of nine games played, Carrig have a record of one win, two draws and three defeats. Walsh expects they will need more positive results in their remaining matches to ensure the retention of their status and the benefits that that brings.

“Four points won't be enough,” he said, “we're going to need something between now and the end of the campaign.

“As I said, every year it is a stretch for us to stay in Division 1, but we always think it's worth it.”