The senior hurlers travelled to Watergrasshill on a beautiful sunny for the final group game of the championship against Fermoy. They were looking to maintain their unbeaten run and ensure qualification for the knock-out stages.

Justin Oke opened the scoring in the second minute with a neat effort from the left wing and Seán Walsh doubled Carrig’s tally seconds later, with Jay Horgan the supplier for both scores.  Jamie McCarthy cut through on goal and offloaded to Liam O’Sullivan; Liam was fouled and a penalty was awarded.  Shane Devlin made his way to the 20 metre line and coolly slotted the ball low into the net to put Carrigtwohill five points clear after just four minutes.  Fermoy responded immediately with a goal and followed up with two points to level matters on 8 minutes.  A Seán Walsh free was followed by a fine effort from Daniel Murnane who surged through the midfield, taking a through ball from Justin and firing over from 65 metres.  Fermoy slotted over a free and Cian O’Riordan cut in off the wing, lofting the ball between the posts.  Jamie Mac burst through the congested Fermoy rearguard and notched a point from close range.  Fermoy responded with two points to trail Carrig by a single score (1-06 to 1-05) with ten minutes remaining until half-time.  James Mulcahy scored a trademark point, accelerating in from the right wing and Fermoy yet again replied with a brace of scores.  Aaron Walsh Barry directed the ball towards the Fermoy corner flag, feeding Ciano who slotted a nice point from a tight angle.  Fermoy finished the first half scoring to level matters (1-08 to 1-08) at the break.

Carrig edged two points clear by the 40th minute.  Pádraic Hogan played a diagonal ball to James Mul who cut in from the wing and blasted a super shot low into the net from about 20 metres.  Liam Gosnell split the post from the right sideline.  Fermoy scored two points in that spell.  Seán Walsh converted a free and followed up with a nice strike from play after Jay, Bobs and Daniel Murnane combined to find Jamie and he played a good ball across to Walsh.  Yet again, Fermoy responded with a brace of scores to keep the gap at two points.  Pádraic Hogan landed the ball over the bar from distance.  Shane Devlin found Daniel Murnane with a short puck-out; Murnane played a nice one-two with Jamie and struck another super point from midfield to put Carrig four ahead with eleven minutes remaining.  Fermoy converted a free and Walsh fired a neat over-the-shoulder effort between the posts on 54 minutes.  That was Carrigtwohill’s final score of the match.  Fermoy got a grip on the game in the closing stages and struck five unanswered points (one free) to edge the contest by the bare minimum.

There was a somewhat subdued atmosphere after the game as the results from the other groups filtered in, scoring differences were totted up and it became apparent that Carrig had made the semi-final as one of the two top placed teams across the three groups.  The panel and management felt that they should have closed out the game and had let it slip.

It’s a case of onwards and upwards.  The objective of winning the group and trying to qualify straight through to a semi-final has been achieved.  Carrigtwohill will meet the winner of the Killeagh versus Newcestown quarter-final.  Bride Rovers have advanced to the other semi-final and will play the winner of the other quarter-final between Blarney and Cloyne. [Fixtures to be confirmed.  The quarter-finals are provisionally down for the 16th/17th September and the semi-finals are pencilled in for the weekend of the 30th September.]

Well done to the panel, management and backroom team on making the semi-final.

Carrigtwohill Team: Shane Devlin (1-0; pen); Neil Coughlan, Seán de Búrca, Pat O’Sullivan, Daniel Murnane (0-2), Jay Horgan, Aaron Walsh Barry, Justin Oke (0-1), Pádraic Hogan (0-1), Cian O’Riordan (0-2), Liam Gosnell (0-1), Jamie McCarthy (0-1), Seán Walsh (0-5; 2f), Liam O’Sullivan, James Mulcahy (1-1).  Subs Used: Brendan Twomey, Tomás Hogan, Cillian Barry, Oliver Baverstock, Seán Brennan.

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

Referee: Mark Maher (St. Finbarr’s).