Castlelyons 0-13 Aghada 2-02
Our footballers have advanced to the final of the Michael O’Connor Motor Factors East Cork Junior A semi-final by virtue of a convincing win over Aghada last Friday evening. The game was played in damp, breezy conditions and was refereed by Brian Murphy who did a very good job, accompanied by his linesmen and umpires.
Aghada did provide stiff opposition at times and got a goal almost from the throw, in a fast move as Kevin O’Hanlon banged in a goal for them and then C Terry added a point to go 0-4 up. However, we fought our way back into the game with some good football.
We had points from Ronan Fenton and then two great goal chances as Ronan Bransfield was put through, but the goalie did well on both occasions.
A Spillane, A O’Sullivan, C McGann 0-1 each along with R Bransfield and A Fenton 0-2 each put us three points up when a mix-up in defence led to another Aghada goal by C Rabitte. Ronan Fenton put over a long range free to leave the score Castlelyons 0-8 Aghada 2-1 at the short whistle.
We had a point from Alan Fenton shortly after the start of the second half and we dominated the game with the aid of a slight breeze, but we had some terrible wides – seven in total – over a fifteen-minute spell. A few of these efforts were so wide as to be nearly in the Saleen direction!
However, we defended very well during this period too as we tackled cleanly and turned over a lot of Aghada attacks. Ciarán McGann set up Darren Tobin for a well taken point and we continued to dominate to the end of the game, when we ran out five point winners.
This was a very encouraging win and as I have said before we are consolidating our place in Junior A football. We were down a few players and hopefully Brian Carroll’s nasty shoulder injury (received in the hurling game versus Fermoy) will clear up soon. Fair play to the management team of Donal O’Leary, Maurice Carroll and James Moroney as the lads are playing with great spirit and freedom. Our next outing will be against Erin’s Own in the semi-final.
This will be a tough one, but if we get in a bit of shooting practice and get all our lads out we are in with a chance of making a second East Cork final in so many years.
Team: Stephen Hickey, Declan Varner, Cian O’Leary, Shane Fenton, Eoin Maye, Tom Carroll, Aidan O Sullivan, Colm Barry, Alan Fenton, Darren Tobin, Ciarán McGann, Ronan Fenton, Robby Feeney, Anthony Spillane and Ronan Bransfield. Subs: Noel McAuliffe for Cian O’Leary, Michael Spillane for Ronan Fenton, Alan O’Regan, Colm O’Neill.
Intermediate hurlers prepare for D Day in Championship
Our intermediate hurlers continue to prepare for the big game in the championship versus Fr O’Neill’s. On Sunday morning at 11am we played Courcey Rovers who were en route to Thurles on a luxury coach for the big game. We had scores from A Fenton 1-2, A Spillane 0-5 (2 frees), C McGann 0-2, D Tobin, D Lawler, and R O’Regan 0-1 each to leave us 1- 12 to 1-9 up at half-time.
We really took over in the second half and ran out big winners, due to scores from A Spillane 1-3, A Fenton 1-2, A O’Regan 1-0, C McGann and E Maye 0-2 each, R Feeney, C Barry, and R Bransfield 0-1 each. This heavy defeat was somewhat to the surprise of Courcey Rovers management who are a Premier outfit and are mid table in the league.
As we have done well all year we are hopefully on the road back again after the defeat to Kanturk, but that second half against the Duhallow outfit is best forgotten. Even though Fr O’Neill’s are red-hot favourites one never knows what might happen with our lads “in the zone” and working hard at it again.
Team: Shane O’Sullivan, Tom Carroll, Declan Varner, Robbie Feeney, Colm O’Neill, Colm Barry, Keith O Leary, Eoin Maye, Darren Tobin, Darragh Lawlor, Ciaran McGann, Anthony Spillane, Aidan O’Sullivan, Alan Fenton and Ronan Fenton. Subs: Ronan O’Regan, Alan O’Regan, Ronan Bransfield, Jack Barry, Liam Moroney and Brian O’Donovan.
Junior B Hurlers take league points
Castlelyons 2-18 St Catherines 2-8
We recorded our first victory in the league with a solid win over St Catherines last Tuesday evening. This was competitive for a while, but when St Catherines lost centre back Ed Kenneally in the first half we got on top and picked off some good scores. St Catherines tried hard and got in for a consolation goal at the end. Hopefully we will get a good run in the championship and the team is beginning to come together.
Team: John Paul Murphy, Redmond Walsh, Mark Murphy, Padraig Murphy, Noel McAuliffe, Daren Tobin, Keith O’Leary, Chris cotter, Ronan Fenton, Alan O’Regan, Ml John Dorgan, Mike Hegarty and Pierse Varner. Sub: Jack Ronayne for Alan O’Regan.
