Corkman Under 21 hurling final goes ahead this Saturday
WEATHER permitting, The Corkman Duhallow Under 21 Hurling Championship Final between Dromtariffe and Robert Emmets goes ahead on this Saturday. This is a delayed hosting, the competition stalled last October owing to Kanturk’s hectic involvement that eventually landed in Croke Park.
Once their interest concluded, the Duhallow action recommenced last Saturday when Dromtariffe bettered Kanturk in a semi-final. The clash of Dromtariffe and Robert Emmets is a repeat meeting of the 2016 decider when Dromtariffe added another glorious chapter in its history on collecting their first Duhallow Under 21 Hurling Championship title by virtue of a fully deserved three point victory over defending champions.
Dromtariffe’s first appearance in a decider landed the outright spoils, indeed victory was richly deserved, on playing the sweeter hurling and their greater ability won the key battles.
There was no questioning Emmets commitment to the cause, appearing in their fifth consecutive decider, the Newmarket and Lismire amalgamation were forced to yield to the more attractive verve in Dromtariffe’s play.
Dromtariffe enter this fray with the advantage of a semi final victory a week ahead of the decider. From start to finish, Dromtariffe controlled the contest against Kanturk, through the key input of Jack Buckley, Shane McSweeney, Mark O’Connor and the Howard brothers.
Robert Emmets last competitive involvement goes back to late November, upping their level of performance to record a fine semi-final victory over Millstreet.
In doing so, Emmets rode out an early Millstreet storm before settling into a rhythm and a routine coming up to the interval. And as the game aged, the Emmets combination made a bold statement, raising their game to levels that Millstreet failed to reach thanks to the assured play of Jamie Hayes, Seán McSweeney and Aidan Browne in defence with Jack Guiney, Cian Crowley and Conor O’Keeffe also in the thick of the action.
It goes without saying, a lack of competitive action at this stage of the season will create an impact as will the possibility of testing conditions. No quarter will be asked or given yet by virtue of a competitive game under their belt, Dromtariffe might be just that bit sharper to complete back to back titles.