Cork Hurling: Youth serving Charleville well while Patrick Horgan's league campaign proved he's still got it
Paul O'Sullivan, Newtownshandrum, under pressure from David Forde and Danny O'Flynn, Charleville during their PSHC game last year Picture: Brendan Gleeson
While the Cork hurling leagues have been improved greatly in the modern era, they still don’t come close to parring championship in significance, intensity or importance of results.
And yet, this year’s league results followed the championship script from the year gone by. The top six were the same six clubs that featured in the knockout stages of last year’s Premier Senior championship, the finalists the same two from last year’s championship final.
The one deviation, was that Charleville managed to creep into the top five ahead of Barrs. And they did so without Jack Doyle, who hasn’t played a minute yet this season.
And with Darragh Fitzgibbon spending the campaign on Cork senior duty, it allowed David Forde to take over the frees, and he finished as Charleville’s top scorer.
Forde finished the campaign with a total of 3-49, while Tim Hawe impressed up front with 2-18 from play. Midfielder Cathal O’Carroll also had a strong campaign, with a brilliant performance against Glen Rovers in which he contributed 1-2.
Veteran corner-back Darren Butler played the most minutes for the north Cork club, picking up a total of 565 in this year’s league. They only used 26 players in this year’s league – joint fewest of the Division 1 teams – but the big thing for Charleville has been the continued improvement of their younger players in the squad.
Zack Biggane returned from the Cork U20s and clipped 0-6 in two starts and a sub appearance. Sean Bresnan had another good league campaign, too, while Robert Carroll has shifted from half-back to half-forward and contributed a total of 2-35 in this year’s league, finishing as their second highest top scorer.
Gareth Gleeson followed up last year’s league haul of 2-7 with another 1-8 here, while goalkeeper Scott Berry made his first start this year against Blackrock.
All groups in the PSHC are a challenge to navigate, but opening the campaign against the reigning champions is certainly as tricky as it gets, and Sarsfields will demand the very best from Dominic Forde’s side. They will need to pick up results against Newtownshandrum and Douglas to secure progression.
Nonetheless, they’ll have to have been pleased with their league campaign. Charleville posted the best scoring difference of anyone outside the top three, and it was another year where they were very competitive with the best the PSHC has to offer.
David Forde 3-49 (0-27 frees, 0-2 sidelines, 0-1 65),
Robert Carroll 2-35 (0-12 frees, 2-0 pen, 0-1 65),
Tim Hawe 2-18,
Conor Buckley 0-18 (0-4 frees),
Cathal O’Carroll 2-5,
David O’Riordan 0-11 (0-8 frees, 0-1 65),
Gareth Gleeson 1-8,
Gavin Kelleher, Sean Bresnan 0-7 each,
Zack Biggane 0-6,
Jack Callaghan 0-5,
DJ Collins 0-3 (0-1 free),
Oisin O’Connell 0-2,
Alan Dennehy, Brian O’Connell, Darren Butler, Finbarr Cagney, Jack Meade 0-1 each.
Darren Butler (565), Brian O’Connell (564), David Forde (546), Robert Carroll (541), Conor Buckley (521), Conor Reynolds (504), Jack Meade (502), Tim Hawe (491), Finbarr Cagney (475), Cathal O’Carroll (470), Alan Dennehy (457), Gavin Kelleher (436), Jack Callaghan (315), Sean Bresnan (310), Jack Buckley (285), Oisin O’Connell (283), Gareth Gleeson (255), Jake Madigan (235), DJ Collins (205), David O’Riordan (167), Zack Biggane (163), Darren Casey (63), Scott Berry (61), Killian Cagney (34), James O’Brien (19), Brian Forde (8).
For Glen Rovers, a fourth place finish was sealed, their defeat to Blackrock early in the campaign giving the southsiders the head-to-head required to jump ahead of the Glen.
Rovers were another team to use very few players throughout the year – they used only 28 during the league – and finished with more goals scored than any team outside of Midleton.
Former Cork star Patrick Horgan contributed exactly half of those green flags, his 5-55 haul made even more impressive by the fact he only played six games, giving him an average of 11.3 PPG. When adjusted for play only scores, that’s 4.7 PPG, just shy of Simon Kennefick’s 4.9.
Kennefick contributed 3-6 in three games, while Stephen Lynam notched 4-16 in six. Dean Brosnan was as dependable as ever throughout the league for the Glen, while Lee Quilligan’s performances were a level above, suggesting he’ll be a valuable starter next month.
Luke Horgan is another player to have starred across the early months. Having played as a forward in last year’s championship, he spent his time in the half-back line this season, and has been exceptional. Horgan was one of four players to play all available minutes, alongside Brosnan, Eoghan Varian and Liam Coughlan.
They’ll meet Blackrock in their championship opener on August 1, before then facing Kanturk and Fr O’Neill’s. No easy feat, of course, but anything other than a place in the knockout stages will constitute a failure for the Glen.
After the way last year’s championship ended against Midleton, Tomas Mulcahy’s side will feel they’ve got a point to prove with the rest of the ‘big five’.
Patrick Horgan 5-55 (1-32 frees, 0-6 65s),
Stephen Lynam 4-16 (0-9 frees, 0-1 65),
Dean Brosnan 1-22,
Lee Quilligan 1-19,
Simon Kennefick 3-6,
Mark Dooley, Rhys Dunne 1-8 each,
Luke Horgan 0-9,
Gearoid Mulcahy 0-8,
Brian Moylan (0-2 frees, 0-2 65s), Diarmuid Wall 0-5 each,
Adam O’Donovan 0-4,
Conor McCarthy Dave Noonan 0-2 each,
Kieran Kelleher 0-1.
Dean Brosnan, Eoghan Varian, Liam Coughlan, Luke Horgan (562 each), Rhys Dunne (553), Conor McCarthy (501), Cathal Hickey (499), Lee Quilligan (491), Adam O’Donovan (464), Dave Noonan (461), Gearoid Mulcahy (391), Patrick Horgan (371), Stephen Lynam (360), Brian. Moylan (352), Mark Dooley (274), Diarmuid Wall (211), Fiachra O’Driscoll (194), Simon Kennefick (183), Jake Brosnan (154), Zach Lynch (148), Kieran Kelleher (126), Micheál Mullins (104), Adam lynch (78), Adam O’Sullivan (78), Calvin Healy (64), Ben Heffernan (63), Cillian Connolly (62), Donagh Coughlan (2).
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