Senior Championship on Sunday.
Next Sunday August 9th is D-Day for our Senior Hurling team. We face the Cork Institute of Technology in the quarter final of the Cork County Senior Hurling Championship. In 2006 we reached the quarter final of the County for the first time ever. The following season we got to the last four. Then last year we went all the way to the Co. final – only to heartbreakingly lose by a single point to Sarsfields.
As in 2008 our championship campaign of this year commenced with a defeat. In 2006 and 2007 we’d defeated St Finbarrs in the Co. S.H.C. and last year we were going for a ‘three-in-a-row’ over the Barrs. Meeting in the first round however in Pairc Uí Chaoimh on the evening of Bartlemy Races, we came out on the losing side to the Barrs. We were glad to avail of the ‘second chance’ or ‘back door’ and by this route we reached the County Final.
This season we found it very hard to recapture any kind of form early in the season. The draw pitted us against East Cork rivals Killeagh. On Sunday May 3rd in Ballynoe we conceded 3-10 against Killeagh and at times it seemed we were in for a really heavy defeat. We did manage to score 16 points but we still lost by a margin of 8 points. A month later on a wet and cold June Saturday night back in Ballynoe we faced Castlelyons in Round 2 – ‘the last chance saloon’. Castlelyons led early on but when we started scoring we got well on top. In the end we won by 3-10 to 0-3. This was a surprisingly easy victory – usually local derbies are very close affairs.
This win put us into Round 3 where we were drawn against Blackrock, winners of so many County Titles and three Club All Ireland titles. Pairc Uí Chaoimh was the venue on Sunday 28th June for the Rovers v Rockies clash. There was never much between the sides in this tight game. We got a perfect start when Frank Barry saved from Michael Collins but Daniel Dooley sent the sliotar to the net. Blackrock relied greatly on the free taking of Adrian Coughlan and his accuracy helped the Rockies to lead by 0-9 to 1-4 at the break. We quickly levelled and then went ahead on the resumption. The Rockies came back and got on equal terms with fifteen minutes left. We then struck 3 points from Barry Johnson, Michael Collins and Terry Broderick. The Rockies got 2 back and went looking for the equalizer. Our defence held out for a one point win1-11 to 0-13. That win put us into next Sunday’s quarter final.
Our opponents C.I.T. have hurled away quietly clocking up huge scores in their 3 games to date, 3-18 v Muskerry, 1-20 v Duhallow and 2-23 v Carrigdhoun. Unlike recent years C.I.T. have been able to keep their team intact since the championship began in May. They’ve lost no players to foreign travel or summer jobs abroad. Being a student team their team members are all in the 18-22 age bracket. No less than 10 of their panel have inter-county experience not only with Cork but also with Kilkenny, Waterford and Tipperary.
2007 Meeting
We last met C.I.T. in the Cork Co. S.H.C. just 2 seasons ago. It was on Saturday August 18th in Riverstown when we won by 2-14 to 1-12. On that occasion we had an eighteen week gap since our first round win over St Finbarrs in early May. C.I.T. were forced to line out without several of their first choice players on the night yet we were lucky indeed to come away with a win.
Our team in 2007 was D.Fitzgerald, B Walsh, B Murphy, J Murphy, T Moloney, B Murphy, P Walsh P Murphy (0-1), B Johnson (0-5), D Ryan (1-0), S Ryan (0-2), R Cahill, M Collins (1-1), J O’Driscoll, T Broderick (0-3). Sub: B Hazelwood (0-2)
From the very start of this year this C.I.T. team have made their intentions known. They want to get to the closing stages of the Cork Co. Senior Hurling Championship. So far they have put on top class high scoring displays. Make no mistake, we will be really up against it on next Sunday evening in Pairc Uí Chaoimh. We simply cant afford to foul their forwards and at the other end we must convert our scoring chances and eliminate our wides tally or at least keep it to the minimum. The game is fixed for 7 o’clock and despite the early start we hope that we will have plenty of vocal support. This team deserves the backing of all the parish so lets see a large green, white and gold clad crowd in the Park.
