'All we are is alive': Dungourney's win over Lisgoold leaves it all to play for against Castlemartyr

Far from the most convincing Dungourney display – though questions were never really asked of them either – as they saw off Lisgoold with ease in Carrigtwohill at the weekend.

In doing so they achieved the one goal that manager Martin Hennessy set out to achieve; keep their championship alive.

Their victory – and Castlemartyr’s defeat to Cloyne – throws up a fascinating final round encounter. Dungourney and Castlemartyr, the two teams that amalgamate to form Kiltha Óg at underage level, will go head-to-head in Killeagh in what will be a de facto knockout game, with the winner making a quarter-final.

The scoring difference means that a draw would be enough to see Dungourney through, something that wasn’t known to Hennessy in the immediate aftermath of their six-point victory over Lisgoold.

“This could be decided on scoring difference very easily,” he said. “And look, six points might not be good enough. There was an opportunity to add on a few more points to that.

“So, it's an area we need to work on, but this game is put to bed now, and we're all looking forward to two weeks’ time against Castlemartyr down in Killeagh.

“After the last day there were a lot of question marks I suppose about Dungourney going into this game. A lot of talk I suppose. We just had to put it right there in the second half.

“We drove into it, we weren't probably too happy with the last 15 minutes or so. Our forwards probably, we need to concentrate more on our work rate down there. It's easy to get the scores, but we need to keep the work rate up then at the end of the game.”

It was the hauls of Cillian O’Callaghan (1-2) and Jack Leahy (0-9, 0-4 frees) that proved crucial for Dungourney, but they will be up against a tough Castlemartyr side.

Even without Cork hurler Ciarán Joyce, and with Joe Stack still finding his way back to full fitness, they'll be a tough test.

“We're happy,” added Hennessy. “But all we are is alive, and we have to keep working now for the next day.

“Subs came on there and made an impact, but today was about getting a win and staying in the championship. That's all it's about at this time of the year, staying in championship. We'll watch the next game here and we'll know what we have to do.

“Fionn Daly got into the game there, look he’s a young fella, did well now. He had his debs during the week and Leaving Cert, so not that ideal preparation. But look he gave everything, he worked hard.

“That’s what we need, young fellas coming into this division,” he remarked. “It's tough hurling, there's nothing between any of the teams. You could get relegated just as easy as winning the county here.” 

A standout at the back for Dungourney was Niall Motherway, who impressed in the sweeper role and nullified Lisgoold’s attacking threat.

“We've seen Lisgoold the last three years. They normally set up with a sweeper, we’ve been used to them with last year again with a sweeper. So we've played a sweeper ourselves.

“Niall's excellent at it, he's played that role many times. Very good on the ball, able to organise the defence, bring the ball out and we worked hard on that the last three weeks. It was a long three weeks since the Cloyne game, a lot of time for work, a lot of time to think.”