Carrigtwohill v Douglas in Douglas, Friday 13th September 2019
Carrigtwohill 5-11 Douglas 4-12

The Fé 14 hurlers travelled to Douglas knowing that they would have to put in a good performance to overcome the city opposition and reach the final of the Challenge Cup, given that Douglas ran out twelve point winners in the first round of the league in April.

Joel Joseph goaled for Carrig after just forty seconds. Tadhg Sullivan raised another green flag three minutes later. Douglas responded with a brace of points before Seán Brennan (free) and Cillian Barry pointed for Carrigtwohill. Keelan Aylward batted the ball to the net and Joel Joseph scored a point with Douglas raising their third white flag to make it 3-03 to 0-03 to Carrig midway through the half. Douglas then struck for their first goal by reacting to the breaking ball quicker after a fantastic save by Fionn Kidney. Patrick Walsh steadied things for Carrigtwohill by scoring a fine brace of points before Douglas responded with 1-1. Joel Joseph scored his second goal and Seán Brennan converted a free to give Carrig an eight point advantage at half-time (4-06 to 2-04).

Douglas reduced Carrig’s lead to six points with the first two scores (points) of the second half. Seán Brennan (free) and Patrick Walsh cancelled out the Douglas scores before Patrick traded a point with the city team. Douglas then hit their purple patch and scored an unanswered 1-4 to make it a one point game, 4-09 to 3-11 with ten minutes remaining. Joel Joseph relieved the pressure with a surging eighty yard run before offloading to Seán Brennan who rifled the ball over the bar. Daniel Murnane added another point before Kyle Graham rattled the net to increase the lead to six points. Douglas scored one more point and a late goal; enough to make Carrig sweat in injury time.

Well done to the players and mentors on what was a very good display of hurling and a much better performance than that in the league encounter earlier in the year. Erin’s Own are Carrig’s opponents in the Challenge Cup final. (Fixture not yet confirmed.)

Carrigtwohill Team: Fionn Kidney, Josh Tynan, Cormac Murphy, Daniel Nolan, Matthew Barrett, Aaron Desmond, Conor Hill, Daniel Murnane, Cillian Barry, Patrick Walsh, Seán Brennan, Kyle Graham, Tadhg Sullivan, Joel Joseph, Keelan Aylward. Subs: Mark McCarthy (for Cormac Murphy; inj), Success Aregbesola, Jamie Cotter.

Scorers for Carrigtwohill: Joel Joseph 2-01; Seán Brennan (3 f) & Patrick Walsh 0-4 each; Tadhg Sullivan, Keelan Aylward & Kyle Graham 1-0 each, Cillian Barry & Daniel Murnane 0-1 each.