Lawton on fire as Grenagh suffer round two defeat to Castle
Castlemartyr 4-16 Grenagh 1-17
IT isn’t often that at Intermediate hurling grade a side will shoot 1-17 and still come out on the wrong side of the result, however, last Saturday evening that is exactly what happened to Grenagh as Castlemartyr’s ability to bag goals at vital times proved to be the deciding factor in this one.
Cork star Brian Lawton was the start man for the victors, hitting 11 points (six frees) during what has to be described as a dominant display.
The final score line shows just Castlemartyr getting just two scores more than their opponents, which is a fair reflection of how this one went as Grenagh plugged away right to the end and showed the never say die attitude that we have become accustomed to from a side with the great Tom Kenny in its ranks.
Lawton was really impressive throughout the 60 minutes with Sean Bourke impressing for the vanquished side. Bourke rattled in a personal tally of 1-6, but obviously on the day that wasn’t to be enough to save their season.
This game really sprang unto life with the score board showing 2-4 to 0-3 with just 10 minutes on the clock. Cian Haines and Jamie Stack were the early goal getters with Haines adding his second goal later on.
Grenagh had the wind in the opening 30 but were down by 2-8 to 1-7 as the sides headed in for some refreshments. This fact was always likely to be difficult to overcome, but Grenagh stuck to their task well and played better without the wind than they had played with it.
Kenny and Jack Russell helped cut the gap early but Lawton was in no mood to step back with a brace of his own keeping the men in blue and yellow at bay. Liam Martin added insult to injury with his goal, Castlemartyr’s third before Haines all but ended this one as a contest with his second green flag.
If Grenagh take anything from this it should be that they never gave up and while it is little consolation they did win the final quarter by 0-7 to 0-3. Both sides will reflect on the result with Grenagh needing to put this behind them to avoid any talk of relegation. CASTLEMARTYR: J Smiddy; C Martin, E Roynane, O Smiddy; J Lawton, A Bowens, M Cosgrave; B Lawton 0-11 (6f), B O’Tuama; J Stack 1-1, L Martin 1-0, C Newlands; M Kelly 0-2, C Haines 2-0, D Kelly Subs: S Hennessy 0-1 for Stack (35) (inj), C Beausang for Newlands (36), C Bowens 0-1 for D Kelly (53), R O’Donovan for Haines (58)
GRENAGH: C Buckley; P McCarthy, G Russell, S Cronin; K Cummins, N Doherty 0-1, C Kenny 0-1; K O’Neill, L Walsh 0-1; C O’Sullivan, T Kenny 0-5 (3f), S Bourke 1-8; P McSweeney, J Russell 0-1, P Barry-Murphy Subs: S Lehane for O’Sullivan (52), A Kiely for Walsh (56)
REFEREE: J Murphy (Castletownroche)