Carraig crowned U12 East Cork Football champions Carraig 2-13 Castlelyons 1-3 On a rainy evening in Rathcormack, Carraig came out on top of a superb display of underage football. These two sides had already met in the league and on that occasion Carraig came out just on top of a closely fought encounter. There was much anticipation, therefore, to see what the Castlelyons response would be. Castlelyons came out like a steam train and they surely would have had a couple of scores were it not for the heroic antics of our full backs Brendan Murphy and Michael Aherne. They dealt with everything that came their way and they were ably assisted by a strong halfbackline of Diarmuid Murphy, Richard Murphy and Gary Geaney. Slowly, the Carraig midefield of Paul Sheehan and Conor Hayes started to get control which was ominous for Castlelyons, given the potency of the Carraig attack. After 15 minutes, Oisin Crowley opened the scoring with a lovely point from distance (one of many that followed from Oish'). This was added to with points from David Sweeney and Conor O'Brien. Castlelyons would have expected that from those three seasoned campaigners but they were also being run ragged by Séan O'Farrell and Conor O'Leary on the wings. After 20 minutes, Castlelyons got on the scoreboard with a well taken point. In what proved to be a defining next 5 minutes, they would surely have added a goal were it not for an outstanding save from Christopher Cremin. Instead, Carraig raced down the field and hotshot Conor O'Brien buried the ball into the back of the net to leave the scores 1-5 to 0-2 at half time. The efforts of playing against the wind in the first half began to show in the second and Carraig were forced to make some changes in the second. Cormac Murphy, Thomas Coleman, Sean Fitzgerald and Stephen Healy were brought on to shore up the effort as Castlelyons pushed for the breakthrough. They would sure have gotten through had it not been for Christopher Cremin who was having a stormer in goal. Instead, Carraig pressed on with points and scores of their own, from all quarters, culminating in another goal from super striker Conor O'Brien. Meanwhile, the Carraig attack was gaining in confidence, especially when fresh legs of Andrew Sheehan, Quentin Noonan, Michael Murray, James Sheehan and Louis Dunlea came on to add drive for the last quarter. Eventually Castlelyons did breach the Carraig defense but, at that stage, Carraig were home and hosed. The cheers that greeted the final whistle were accompanied with a satisfaction of a job well done. Carraig now go on to the County and with the attitude that they showed tonight, who's to say that they can't win that as well!!

Carraig U12 football shake off the cobwebs

09/03/2009 Blarney 2-5    Carraig 2-3 Carraig U12 football side got their season off to a start with a challenge match away to Blarney, on Sunday March 8th. Although missing some key players, the team put up a great fight and the coaches were delighted with their performance. Playing with the wind in the first quarter, Carraig were dominant in all areas but took a long time to translate this dominance into scores. This profligacy in front of goals would come back to haunt Carraig at the end when a couple of points were all that separated the side. A full 15 minutes passed before either side troubled the scoreboard. When it finally came, it was no surprise that it came from the trusty boot of Oisín Crowley whowas having his usual masterful performance in attack. From the very next attack a high ball was floated into the square and Richard “the Bomber” Murphy crashed the ball into the net. Conor O’Brien added another point from play and Blarney responded with a point of their own to leave the scores at 1-2 to 0-1 in favour of Carraig at the break. Blarney capitalised a stiff breeze in the second quarter,  and scored 1-3 to no response to leave the score at 1-4 to 1-2 at half time. The difference would certainly have been much higher were it not for some heroic defensive performances from Brendan Murphy, Paul Sheehan and Christopher Cremin in goal. In the third quarter, Diarmuid Murphy pounced on an opportunity close in to give Carraig the edge and Conor Hayes added a fine point to leave the game nicely poised as we entered the final quarter. These scores were countered by another 1-3 from Blarney in the final quarter. This should not, however, take away from some fine Carraig performances, particularly from younger players such as Cormac Murphy, Andrew Sheehan and the pocket rocket Lewis Dunlea. All in all, a fine performance in a very good match and the players present made a very strong case for their places next day out.