Cork PIHC: Castlemartyr off to flying start after victory over rivals Lisgoold
Mike Kelly was excellent at sweeper for Castlemartyr. Picture: Howard Crowdy
A first, first round victory for Castlemartyr in the Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship since 2022. And a sweet one at that.
Goals win games as the cliché goes – now, they certainly helped here – but what Castlemartyr’s defence produced, especially in the second half when Lisgoold ramped up the pressure, was a class above.
Mike Kelly ruled the air across the hour in Midleton on Sunday. Lisgoold had no answer to his performance in the sweeper role. He’d finish with a total of 0-7, three from play, and was the catalyst behind everything they did right. But it was no one man act either.
Cathal Martin and Darragh Joyce were immense. John Cashman and Diarmuid Healy were afforded very little room to manoeuvre – and though the latter still ended with 1-3 – he had merely 0-2 up to the hour mark.
Billy McGann – another to put in a huge shift in defensive duties – drilled home his second goal in the 37th minute. Assisted by Andrew Kelly, he blasted to the far corner, and had the finger to the air in celebration as the Castlemartyr dugout erupted. They could feel how crucial that moment was.
Their advantage jumped from two to five. That control would not be relinquished, despite their opponents’ best efforts.
Mikes Kelly and O’Dwyer would increase their lead to six with 20 to go. Brian Lawton would keep that advantage intact with his second and third points from play. By the 50th minute, it was 3-16 to 0-19.
Lisgoold would not score from play for the next ten minutes. Goalkeeper Jack McGann made two excellent saves in the span of two minutes, one from Healy and another from Liam O’Shea.
Then in the 58th minute, Lisgoold goalkeeper Jake Wright – already on 0-4 from frees – roamed forward to take a close-range free. His rocketed effort was met by a better save from former goalkeeper Darragh Joyce.
O’Shea popped over the 65, but Lisgoold still trailed by six.
Healy brought the margin down to five, and then McGann answered with an outstanding point from out wide. Lisgoold would finally goal in the second minute of added time through Healy, but their next long ball on wouldn’t produce the same success. That one was intercepted by Mike Kelly, again. Return to sender.
And with that, Castlemartyr prevailed by three. A perfect start to the Ciaran Joyce-less campaign they’ve been forced to endure. But two more east Cork challenges await.
The start was cagey, no more than two separating the teams until the first Castlemartyr goal.
Kelly and Brian Lawton had clipped stunning scores in that half, Kelly’s after he plucked one from the air, played a one-two with Ciaran Sice and slotted over from the half way line, while a minute later ¬– from over the shoulder – Brian Lawton lasered one straight between the posts to leave it 0-6 to 0-4 after 18 minutes.
Lisgoold would lead by the minimum following three unanswered, two from midfielder James O’Leary who finished with an impressive 0-5 for Lisgoold.
After another Kelly point, Castlemartyr punished the very next puckout, with Niall Madden intercepting before offloading to McGann at just the right time. McGann buried it from close in.
Healy answered immediately for Lisgoold but then Brian Lawton was felled for a penalty, and brother Barry stepped up to lash to the net, leaving it 2-9 to 0-9 after 26 minutes.
Lisgoold would cut Castlemartyr’s lead to four by the break, and while they started the second half well, their persistence with a sweeper worked against them, such was Kelly’s form.
B McGann 2-2, Barry Lawton 1-4 (1-0 pen), M Kelly 0-7 (0-3 f, 0-1 65), Brian Lawton 0-3, D Joyce, M O’Dwyer, E Martin 0-1 each.
L O’Shea 0-7 (0-5 f, 0-1 65), D Healy 1-3, J O’Leary 0-5, J Wright 0-4 f, K Cashman, J Cashman, J O’Driscoll 0-1 each.
J McGann; C O’Neill, C Martin; M Kelly; M Cosgrave, D Leahy, D Joyce; B Ó Tuama, C Sice; E Martin, B McGann, M O’Dwyer; Brian Lawton, Barry Lawton, N Madden.
A Kelly for Madden (HT), P Fleming for Cosgrave (45), L Martin for Sice (52), J Lawton for E Martin (56).
J Wright; C Healy, J Hegarty, C Scannell; I Walsh; K Cashman, M O’Sullivan, J Cronin; L O’Shea, J O’Leary; J Cashman, D Healy, M Hegarty; J O’Driscoll, D O’Brien.
C Cashman for Scannell (38), J Coleman for O’Brien (52), K Walsh for J O’Driscoll (59).
K O’Sullivan (Valley Rovers)
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