Muskerry blitz dampens Carbery hurlers’ hopes

Muskerry 3-21 

Carbery 1-14

JOHN MURPHY REPORTS

CARBERY’S hurling odyssey came to an end at misty Castletownkenneigh on Tuesday evening when Muskerry eked out a richly-deserved 13-point trap-to-line triumph in the Red FM Co-op Superstores unseeded semi-final section of the Cork premier hurling championship.

Facing such a talented outfit who paraded 15 intermediate players in their starting line-up the Carbery lads needed a positive start. Instead, disaster struck from the throw-in when Muskerry midfielder Eoin O’Shea picked out the dynamic Tadhg O’Connell. He soloed in front the left wing to billow the Carbery net for one of the fastest goals of the season, barely 20 seconds on the clock.

An O’Shea free and a superb strike from Kevin Hallisey quickly followed and the losers’ found themselves 1-2 to 0-0 behind, just four minutes played. It was to get much worse before it got better for Carbery as a nightmare opening half saw them under severe pressure defensively, while up front the forwards were existing on crumbs, the accuracy of Maurice Sexton keeping the scoreboard ticking over, while Josh O’Donovan, Eoghan Ferguson and Brian O’Donovan all chipped in with badly-needed points.

Muskerry's Conor O'Leary and Carbery's Eoghan Ferguson battling for possession.

No such problems for the Mid Cork side as with Matthew Bradley, Mark Verling, Kevin Hallisey, Dave Kirwan, Odhrán O’Driscoll, Conor O’Leary and captain Fenton Denny showing a fair modicum of hurling skill, the points flowed with clockwork regularity, while Kevin Hallisey smashed home a sublime second goal in the tenth minute, Mark Verling the service provider.

Despite the hard grafting of Peter Collins, James Hurley, and James Moloney in an overworked Carbery defensive set-up, the margin had extended to a whopping 2-13 to 0-6 at the interval, Muskerry’s Eoin O’Shea’s blistering free having come back off an upright for good measure.

Now Carbery’s mountain was already an Everest, but as they have displayed in previous games tenacity and commitment are two of Carbery’s strong points and they displayed them again in the face of mounting adversity on resuming.

Ringing the changes at the break with the introduction of Gearóid O’Donovan, Eoin Ryan, Charlie Long and Adam McSweeney there was much more pep in their step as a cracking Brian O’Donovan point after a good sally by Bertie Butler got them off to a perfect restart.

Muskerry's Cillian Timmins tries to stop Carbery's Brian O'Donovan.

Captain Michael Cahalane, Josh O’Donovan, Sexton, Matt Lawton and the aforementioned quartet of substitutes were winning the dirty ball. They got a major boost in the 40th minute when Charlie Long sent in a peach of a delivery as Gearóid O’Donovan abbreviated his swing to steer the sliotar past excellent shot-stopper Dylan Desmond.

O’Donovan in the next foray split the posts, 2-15 to 1-10, a much more respectable scoreline. Would Carbery fashion another comeback against all the odds? Muskerry soon answered that question as upping the ante they fired over a bevy of scores from acute angles, Hallisey, O’Shea, Denny, Verling and Bradley all finding the range.

Bravely, Carbery battled on, but the expected conclusion became a reality in the 57th minute when substitute Seán Joyce, barely into the action, smashed home Muskerry’s third goal. That was that, Muskerry advancing to meet Avondhu in the final, late scores by Maurice Sexton and Gearóid O’Donovan signalling brave Carbery’s defiance to the final whistle.

‘Look, we can have no complaints, they are a quality team backboned by players from Ballincollig and Eire Óg who are in their respective league finals. To be fair the lads stuck with it and in the second half both teams scored 1-8. To an extent it is a kind of catch-22 situation, the further you go some players may not be available’, Carbery boss Joe Ryan said.

Scorers

Muskerry: Kevin Hallisey 1-3; Mark Verling, Eoin O’Shea (1f) 0-5 each; Tadhg O’Connell 1-1; Diarmuid Kirwan 0-3; Seán Joyce 1-0; Matthew Bradley 0-2; Fenton Denny, Odhrán O’Driscoll 0-1 each.

Carbery: Maurice Sexton 0-7 (6f); Gearóid O’Donovan 1-2; Josh O’Donovan, Brian O’Donovan 0-2 each; Eoghan Ferguson 0-1.

Muskerry: Dylan Desmond (Eire Óg); Niall Barry-Murphy (Aghabullogue), Cillian Timmins (Aghabullogue), David O’Sullivan (Ballincollig); Aidan Murphy (Cloughduv), Conor O’Leary (Ballincollig), Fenton Denny (Ballincollig); Odhrán O’Driscoll (Cloughduv), Eoin O’Shea (Eire Óg); Conor Dalton (Ballincollig), David Kirwan (Eire Óg), Mark Verling (Cloughduv); Matthew Bradley (Aghabullogue), Tadhg O’Connell (Ballincollig), Kevin Hallisey (Eire Óg).

Subs: Dan Twomey (Grenagh) for Tadhg O’Connell (45), Peter Kelly (Ballincollig) for Conor Dalton (48), John Kelleher (Eire Óg) for Cillian Timmins (51), Seán Joyce (Grenagh) for Mark Verling (52), Adam Drinan (Donoughmore) for David Kirwan (57).

Carbery: Aaron Holland (Kilbrittain); Peter Collins (Randal Óg), James Hurley (Kilbrittain), James Moloney (Barryroe); Shane Murnane (St Colum’s), Matt Lawton (Argideen Rangers), Cathal Sheehy (Barryroe); Bertie Butler (Kilbrittain), Josh O’Donovan (Kilbrittain); Maurice Sexton (Kilbrittain), Michael Cahalane (Bandon), Eoghan Ferguson (Ballinascarthy); Brian O’Donovan (Ballinascarthy), Darren O’Donovan (St Mary’s), Luke Murray (Ballinascarthy).

Subs: Gearóid O’Donovan (Diarmuid O’Mathúna) for Eoghan Ferguson, Eoin Ryan (Clonakilty) for Cathal Sheehy), Charlie Long (Bandon) for Shane Murnane (all ht), Adam McSweeney (Barryroe) for Darren O’Donovan (35).

Referee: Brian Coniry (Crosshaven).