East Cork Junior Hurling Championship First Round
Carraig na bhFear 2-22 Fr O’Neills 1-12
Carrigtwohill, June 24th.
An ability to keep the scoreboard ticking over while not letting Fr O’ Neills gain a significant foothold, paved the way for a handsome victory for the Carraig na bhFear Junior hurlers,in the opening round of the East Cork Oil Junior A hurling championship, at a sun kissed Carrigtwohill on Sunday last. Do bhi slua maith ag siul le cluiche suimiuil agus gearr, ach deanta na firinne, tar eis an chead treimshe, do bhi Carraig i mbarr a reime go dti an deireadh.
While the opening quarter was a relatively close affair with early O’Neills scores being cancelled out by John Forde and centre forward Timmy Geaney, Carraig’s greater stick work and application came to the fore as the half wore on. Aided by stern defending from Daniel Coleman, Brian Hegarty and James Forde, allowed for a plentiful supply of ball to a devastating half forward trio of John Forde, Timmy Geaney and Paul Murphy who accounted for 12 points of the first half total . In addition both corner forwards Paul O’Keefe and David Sweeney struck over points of their own to give Carraig a healthy lead of 15 points to seven at the short whistle.
Carraig took over from where they left off on the resumption with heavy pressure on the O’Neills backs resulting in a turn over and subsequent goal by David Sweeney. Do bhi Carraig aon phointe deag chun cinn agus ni bheadh ach cuig noimead imithe sa dara leath. An inevitable consequence of the significant lead enjoyed at this stage of the game resulted in a sloppy period of play which gave O’Neills some respite and a chance to make an impression on the scoreboard. Indeed a series of fine saves from senior custodian Conor Hegarty prevented two certain goals and although a fine effort from the O’Neills centre forward whittled the lead down to nine points, Carraigs final ten minutes response was emphatic. O’Keeffe ran in another fine solo effort for a goal of his own while points from James Forde and a succession of white flags from Paul Murphy gave the scoreboard a healthy full time look of 2-22 to 1-12.
Thus Carraig march on to the quarter final stage, in full knowledge that sterner tests lie in store but grateful for the opportunity to keep the winning run continuing. Ach ‘se mo thuairm go bhfuil meon chroiuil ag an dream airithe agus ta an todchai dearfach i ndan duinn.
An Foireann:
Conor Hegarty,
Brian Hegarty, Gary Geaney, Dan Coleman,
Aaron Dorgan, Diarmuid O’Driscoll, James Forde,
Martin Hickey, Paul Geaney,
John Forde, Timmy Geaney, Paul Murphy,
Paul O’Keeffe, Brendan Murphy, David Sweeney
An Fir Ionaid: James Meehan for Martin Hickey.