Late goal keeps Carrigaline in mix as Ballymartle cling to knockout chance

Carrigaline manager Gary Harrington praised the character of his side after Rhys McCarthy's injury-time goal rescued a 3-17 to 3-17 draw against Ballymartle and kept their Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship hopes alive.

With Ballymartle leading deep into added time at Kilbrittain on Saturday, Carrigaline looked to be heading for a second defeat in the group. However, McCarthy's late green flag earned a share of the spoils and ensured qualification remains in their own hands heading into their final-round clash with Kilworth.

"You have to give credit to our players there, they showed fierce heart at the end to get that score," Harrington said afterwards.

"We knew coming into this game that it was in our hands to progress out of the group. We still have a job to do. We have to beat Kilworth. We'll be back training again on Tuesday and prepare well for that and hopefully we'll come out on the right side of it this time."

The Carrigaline boss acknowledged his side were relieved to emerge with a draw from another hard-fought local derby, having experienced similar battles against their near neighbours in recent seasons.

"We played Ballymartle in the league as well and it was the same thing in Riverstick, it was a battle. We played them last year in the championship and that was a battle too," Harrington said.

"We knew when we were coming to this game that nothing was going to be easy. 

I think we're delighted to get a draw and, as I said, we know it's in our own hands now to go and beat Kilworth in two weeks."

The result leaves Carrigaline on one point from two games, but crucially knowing that victory in their final outing would keep them right in the mix for a knockout berth.

"That was the message afterwards with the group, that it's still in our hands," Harrington added.

"Kilworth aren't going to hand us the game either. We still have to prepare properly for it. We'll do all our work that we usually do and we'll give one hell of a go to beat Kilworth on September 6."

While Carrigaline celebrated their late escape, Ballymartle were left to reflect on an opportunity missed after leading for much of the closing stages.

Manager Noel Deasy admitted his side were disappointed not to come away with both points but insisted their championship fate is not yet sealed.

"Unfortunately, we wanted to win the game, but the draw doesn't completely throw us out of the equation," Deasy said.

"Mathematically, we still have a chance, so we just have to roll on to the next game now and stay positive."

CLOSE CALL

Ballymartle looked set for victory after goals from Paul Geary, Shane Cummins and Cillian Lordan helped put them in a commanding position, only for Carrigaline to strike at the death.

"We created goal chances and it's probably disappointing not to close it out," Deasy admitted.

"We had opportunities in the end there to close out the game and we didn't do it. We'll learn from it and move on."

Like Harrington, Deasy expected little between two sides who have repeatedly pushed each other to the limit over recent seasons.

"It'll always come down to tick for tack when you're playing local teams," he said.

They beat us by a point last year, it's a draw this year and a few years ago we beat them by a point. There's very little between the two teams.

"They probably feel the same as us. They wanted to win as well, so we're both looking at ourselves afterwards."

Despite the frustration of surrendering victory so late, Deasy had no complaints about the effort shown by his players.

"I'd never fault the lads," he said, "We work very hard behind the scenes and those lads can't be faulted today. It's the hop of a ball sometimes. The luck probably isn't going our way at the moment but hopefully the tide will turn and that day will come too."