Red FM Hurling League Division 1 in Charleville on Sunday, 25th June

Charleville 0-15 Carrigtwohill 1-12

The senior hurlers travelled to Charleville for the last round of the league, knowing that a result was needed to give them a fighting chance of keeping their Division 1 league status for 2024.

The game ebbed and flowed, pretty much point-for-point in the early stages, with the score level at 0-05 apiece on 17 minutes.  Liam Gosnell opened Carrig’s account from a placed ball.  Tomás Hogan pointed after good interplay between Cillian Barry and Cian O’Riordan.  Two more Gozzy frees followed; one either side of a nicely lofted over-the-shoulder effort by James Mulcahy cleared the crossbar; the latter free coming after good grafting by Mul and the hard-working Seán Brennan.  Carrigtwohill’s play became a bit ragged in the second quarter as Charleville chipped in with three more points to lead by that amount (0-08 to 0-05) at half-time.

Carrigtwohill reduced the Charleville lead to two points in the third quarter.  Three more Gosnell frees made it 0-10 to 0-08 on 45 minutes.  Daniel Murnane played a good diagonal ball in front of Cian O’Riordan and he split the posts.  Gozzy converted another free after the industrious Séamus Roche was fouled.  Charleville scored another two points to keep the lead at two (0-12 to 0-10) with seven minutes remaining.  Shane Devlin pulled of a brilliant point-blank reflex deflecting the ball out of danger for a ‘65’, which was struck wide.  Another Gosnell free was cancelled out by a Charleville one to keep it at a two point game (0-13 to 0-11) entering added time.  James Mul fired the ball over the bar from the wing after a well-directed Aaron Walsh Barry down the line, only for Charleville to immediately reciprocate.  Liam O’Sullivan found Rochy with a good angled pass and Seámus, who made a big impact when introduced, blasted to the net from close range to put Carrig in front for the first time since the 13^th minute.  Charleville managed to get a late equaliser with pretty much the last puck of the game, thanks to a super Darragh Fitzgibbon point.  It was a slight case of history repeating itself, as it was Darragh who scored the equaliser to force extra-time in the premier senior hurling relegation play-off two years ago.

After some initial confusion immediately after the final whistle, it transpired, after an examination of the other results on the morning, that Carrigtwohill had held on to their Division 1 status for next year.  Well done to the panel of players and to the management team on getting the required result in this game.  The very best of luck to everybody involved in the team in the championship later on in the summer.

Carrigtwohill Team: Shane Devlin; Pat O’Sullivan, Seán de Burca, Aaron Walsh Barry; Jamie McCarthy, Jay Horgan, Daniel Murnane; Brendan Twomey, Liam O’Sullivan; Cian O’Riordan (0-1), Liam Gosnell (0-8 f), Cillian Barry; Tomás Hogan (0-1), James Mulcahy (0-2), Seán Brennan.  Subs Used: Séamus Roche (1-0), David Rooney, Oliver Baverstock.

Management: Frank Flannery (manager), Niall Kidney, Michael Boland, Niall McCarthy, Clive Cremen.

Referee: David Copps (Ballyhea).