East Cork Junior Hurling League Division 4

Cloyne v Carrigtwohill

Friday, 3rd June

Cloyne 2.14  - Carrigtwohill 0.23

Carrig travelled to Cloyne with a much fuller compliment than for the previous league outing against Carraig na bhFear; a game that was conceded despite being played, because of having to field some of the junior A panel to make up the numbers. It was fantastic to see twenty one players togged out on the Friday of a June Bank Holiday weekend for what was a tough and close match against uncompromising opponents.

The hosts ran into an early 1-04 to 0-01 lead, with Shane O’Hanlon opening Carrigtwohill’s account. Carrig had a quick flurry of six unanswered points to draw the match twenty minutes in. Shane ‘Tudna’ Healy chipped in with three (with hard-working corner forward, Patrick O’Connor providing the assist for the final one), Shane O’Hanlon notched two frees and Billy Scully split the posts. Eamon Fitzgerald drifted upfield from his well commanded centre back berth to collect and point from a break that resulted from some grafting by George McCarthy. Mairtín Neylon and Darren Burns were alert to the danger of the early Cloyne attacks and swept the ball out of the danger area. Shane O’Hanlon converted another placed ball, with Cloyne registering four more points in the closing stages of the half to edge the game by two points, 1-08 to 0-9 at the short whistle.

The second half was nip and tuck with Carrig drawing level five minutes in. With Cloyne converting one free, Shane O’Hanlon struck another free sweetly and Tudna followed up with a brace of points, the second one coming from a long range free from newly stationed centre-back, Neil Coughlan. The seventeen year old stood up to the physical exchanges in very impressive fashion. Again, Carrigtwohill outscored Cloyne three points to one, to go two points ahead (1-10 to 0-15): Cian Thornton cut in and fired over the bar; he then batted the resultant puck-out down to Paul O’Connor who split the posts; Shane O’Hanlon notched another point from a free. The sides then traded four points apiece to make it 1-14 to 0-19 with five minutes remaining. The impressive Shane O’Hanlon struck all four (two frees, one ‘65’), the final one a super effort from the sideline. Frank Kierans followed up with an equally impressive point from out wide on the right wing before Cloyne struck for an equalising goal to make it 2-14 to 0-20. Carrig rallied well, with Jack Scully commanding the backline and Adrian Browne covering a lot of ground. Three final Carrig attacks each led to a score, with Matthew Kidney and Shano striking from distance and Browney finishing the scoring with a neat over-the-shoulder effort.

Well done to the panel and the management team of Peter Hogan (manager), Pat Horgan and JJ Barry. The entire panel of twenty one players took to the field in a hard fought match, during which the team performance improved with more direct hurling in the second half.

Carrigtwohill Team: Darren Flynn, Mairtín Neylon, Jack Scully, Darren Burns, Cillian Carroll, Eamon Fitzgerald (0-1), Daniel Covaci, Neil Coughlan, Cormac Flynn, Billy Scully (0-1), Shane O’Hanlon (0-11; 7f, ‘65’), Frank Kierans (0-1), Patrick O’Connor (0-1), Shane Healy (0-5), George McCarthy. Subs (all used): Matthew Kidney (0-1), Dylan Scriven, Cian Thornton (0-1), Adrian Browne (0-1), Maurice Curtin, Alex O’Driscoll.

Referee: Tadhg O’Connor (Killeagh).