East Cork U21 A Hurling Championship Group 1 Round 2 in Carrigtwohill on Friday, 24th November

Carrigtwohill 1-17

Midleton 0-20

The U21 hurlers ran out at West End against Midleton for this entertaining match.  It was played in as ideal conditions as you will get for a game at that time of year when Fairytale of New York is being rolled out for its annual churn on the jukebox.  With both teams having already secured a place in the semi-finals, the outcome of this game would decide the semi-final pairings.

Midleton ran into a two point (0-01 to 0-03) lead after ten minutes; Patrick Walsh notched Carrig’s first score with a good effort from distance clearing the village end crossbar.  Carrigtwohill came to life in the second ten minute spell.  Liam Scriven laid the ball off to Jack Barrett who cut through and split the posts.  A Seán Walsh free from midfield was followed seconds later with his first score from play, also a long range effort.  Walsh converted another free before brother, Patrick received a good ball up the wing from Daniel Murnane and lofted the ball over the bar from the right wing.  Carrig were now leading, 0-06 to 0-03 after 20 minutes.  Midleton responded with three points to level the game on 25 minutes.  Seán Walsh popped the ball to Patrick and his low shot was stopped by the Midleton keeper; Seán Brennan pounced and finished the ball to the net from close range with a ground strike.  Matthew Barrett made a fantastic hook to avert a goal chance and Midleton converted the resulting ‘65’.  Walsh pointed another free after some hard work by Justin Oke drew a foul.  Daniel Nolan made a brilliant reflex block to prevent another Midleton goal attempt and force a second ‘65’, which was the last score of the first half.  Carrigtwohill went in at half-time with a two point lead on a scoreline of 1-07 to 0-08.

Seán Walsh raised a white flag from the West End bank wing shortly after the resumption.  Patrick Walsh mirrored that effort from the opposite wing and Seán followed suit to put Carrig five points clear on 35 minutes.  Midleton replied with a pointed free.  Walsh reciprocated for Carrigtwohill after a good ball out of defence by Matthew Barrett and grafting by Seán Brennan.  A long range Daniel Murnane free fed Patrick who cut in off the wing and struck a lovely point straight off the bas.  Midleton notched another point to get it back to a five point game (1-12 to 0-10) on 40 minutes.  Adam Rooney pulled off a brilliant reflex save and the full-back line reacted well.  Seán de Búrca managed to deflect a blasted Brion Saunderson 20m free over the crossbar.  Another Walsh free kept the gap at five points.  Matthew Barrett played a one-two with Justin Oke and cut through the middle to split the posts.  Two further Walsh frees to a single Midleton one gave Carrigtwohill a seven point lead (1-16 to 0-12) on 53 minutes.  During the next ten minutes, Midleton got a run on Carrig and scored eight unanswered points (four frees) to go a point ahead on 63 minutes.  The Carrigtwohill tempo had visibly dropped a gear.  A Seán Walsh free from the West End bank wing a minute later salvaged a draw for Carrig.

Well done to the panel of players and management for maintaining their unbeaten championship run and on reaching the semi-finals.  Even the most dyed-in-the-wool Carrig supporter would find it difficult to argue that Carrigtwohill could not be considered some bit fortunate to have secured three points from their two games with vital scores deep in added time.  The big head-scratcher for this panel and their coaches is how not to ease the foot off the pedal when they get into a commanding lead, as has now happened in both matches.

With the Group 2 games also completed last weekend, Carrigtwohill will now meet Sarsfields in the semi-final on Sunday, 10th December.  (Final fixture details to follow.)  Midleton will play Bride Rovers in the other semi-final on the same weekend.

Carrigtwohill Team: Adam Rooney; Neil Coughlan, Seán de Búrca, Daniel Nolan; Matthew Barrett (0-1), Daniel Murnane, Cian O’Riordan; Justin Oke, Jack Barrett (0-1); Liam Scriven, Seán Walsh (captain: 0-11; 0-8f), David Joseph; Mark O’Connor, Seán Brennan (1-0), Patrick Walsh (0-4). Subs Used: Alex Kidney, Joel Joseph.  Other Subs: Darren Flynn, Alex O’Driscoll, Adam Walsh, Daragh Hannigan, Seán Ahern, George McCarthy, Fionn Kidney.

Management: Aidan O’Donnell (manager), Aidan Flanagan, Tomás Hogan, Tom O’Brien, Clive Cremen.

Referee: Shane Hodgins (Erin’s Own).