Duhallow to storm the Castle

in Dublin earlier in the afternoon.

Coming nowhere near their form of the second drawn contest, Castlehaven passed up on chances, a number of wides recorded and the concession of a sloppy goal. A Vaughan delivery for Duhallow fell short, ‘Haven keeper Anthony Seymour collected, coming out of his area, an attempted pass strayed for Hickey to pounce and steer the ball into an empty net.

Castlehaven did reply with points to Brian Hurley and Collins yet they were lucky not to concede a third major just on the call of the short whistle. A long range Jerry O’Connor free saw the ball thread a path and come off the bottom of the post as Duhallow made their way off 2-7 to 0-7 to the good.

The second half began in a flurry, an expected Castlehaven backlash thwarted. A possible game changer, the ‘Haven laid siege in search of a major, Fintan O’Connor rescuing Duhallow with an all important block.

The ball transferred downfield into the path of Jerry O’Connor to fire a thunderbolt to the Castlehaven net. Vaughan added a point, in truth, the contest looked beyond the reach of the ‘Haven on trailing by 10 points.

But time and again, the boys from the West are proven no quitters, responding to the challenge with commendable gusto, Brian Hurley pointed a pair with Conor O’Driscoll also on target. Again the Duhallow defence stood firm, Fintan O’Connor and McSweeney, linking defence and attack with a heavy shift load as Jerry and Donncha O’Connor in addition to Hickey adding points.

All importantly, Duhallow kept the pursuers at arms length, county player Collins emerging the ‘Haves most influential performer and a pair brought his tally to 0-8.

Having conceded seven points without reply in the opening game, Duhallow were adamant on not getting caught this time around on maintaining a grip to the finish, the scoring completed on Eoghan McSweeney setting up Knocknagree colleague Anthony O’Connor to despatch the ball over the crossbar.

From a marvelous three game trilogy, Duhallow shaped up the better of the two sides in this third meeting, destiny awaits the barony in the decider on a challenging tussle against St. Finbarrs. DUHALLOW: P Doyle (Knocknagree), K Crowley (Millstreet), J McLoughlin (Kanturk), B Daly (Newmarket); L O’Neill (Kanturk), K Buckley (Knocknagree), L McLoughlin (Kanturk), P Walsh (Kanturk) 0-1, A Walsh (Kanturk), F O’Connor (Knocknagree) 0-1, E McSweeney (Knocknagree), M Vaughan (Millstreet) 0-2; J O’Connor (Boherbue) 1-3 (0-1 ‘45’, 0-1f), D O’Connor (Ballydesmond) 1-3 (1-0p, 0-1 ‘45’, 0-1f), S Hickey (Rockchapel) 1-1. Subs: K Cremin for K Crowley (bc, 22), A O’Connor (Knocknagree) for F O’Connor (53), A Ryan (Newmarket) for Vaughan (58), J F Daly (Knocknagree) for D O’Connor(60 +2).

CASTLEHAVEN: A Seymour, S Collins, D Limrick, C O’Sullivan, R Walsh, Damien Cahalane, J Davis; M Collins 0-8 (6f), Darragh Cahalane; S Hurley, C Cahalane, C Maguire; C O’Driscoll, B Hurley 0-2 (1f), M Hurley 0-3. Subs: D McCarthy for S Hurley (20), C Hayes for J Davis (33), S Cahalane for D McCarthy (41), R Whelton for S Collins (41), J O’Regan for C O’Sullivan (50), S Nolan for C O’Driscoll (56).

REFEREE: P O’Leary (Kilmurry) MAIN MAN

Duhallow applied all the security measures necessary in a defence that kept a tight rein on Castlehaven’s key men. Lorcán McLoughlin displayed all his customary guile and workrate, resisting stoutly, working as a unit, the defence presented a solid and unified appearance.

KEY MOMENT

The major difference between the sides surfaced on goal taking opportunities. Trailing by six points, Castlehaven needed an early break and appeared to knuckle down to serious business upon the resumption in a fine move thwarted by the Duhallow defence, a slick move downfield saw Jerry O’Connor net before Michael Vaughan added a white flag to steer Duhallow into a commanding 10 point advantage.

TALKING POINT

After a rip roaring drawn encounter where extra time failed to separate the pair, no such dramatics on this occasion. Fine passages of football yet Castlehaven looked tired, that contrasted to Duhallow, far more assured and focused with clinical finishing key to the divisional outfit claiming a trap to line win.