Bray Emmets in super form
BRAY EMMETS 3-13 CARNEW EMMETS 1-06 BRAY’S strength in depth was bellowed to the far corners of the county on Sunday afternoon last when they absolutely dismantled Carnew while missing 10 key men from last year’s Senior championship winning panel.
Whatever whispered questions were asked of them by the Carnew men were answered with ruthless efficiency and waspish play where they constantly chased and harried and hassled their opponents all over the field.
They were adventurous and ambitious and supportive at all times and could have won by plenty more had they been more clinical and accurate in front of the posts.
Carnew look tired. They are a team who are lacking a cutting edge. Their thought processes, their movement, their hurling was happening at a slower pace than that of Bray. On umpteen occasions Carnew men won possession only to be hooked, blocked, or dispossessed by their sharper opponents. The Wexford border side seemed to want to carry the ball into the tackle, seemed to want to bulldoze their way to space instead of letting the ball do the work and using speed to unlock the Bray defence.
But speed is one of the things that Carnew are struggling with. Scoring is the other.
1-06 after 60 minutes of Senior championship hurling and you have to be asking serious questions and the goal, while taking nothing from Wayne Kinsella who pounced on the error superbly, should never have been allowed to happen in the first place.
Bray on the other hand look in fine form. Pádraig Doyle looks unstoppable. The big man bagged 1-05 on Sunday, his goal a rocket of a shot to the bottom corner and some of his points were superb. Diarmuid Masteron was like a beast at midfield and he was ably assisted by Marc Lennon. Tom Cash was in deadly form while Peter Walsh and Peter Kiely were rocks. They are marching to the four-in-a-row and it will take some effort to stop them.
Things were looking promising enough for Carnew when they opened up a 0-02 to 0-01 lead after seven minutes in Joule Park, Aughrim, with Enda Donohue replying to Pádraig’s Doyle’s delicious opener with a well taken free after a foul on Oisin Furlong by Cian O’Byrne and a dainty effort from play. Carnew had also registered a wide and Donohue had dropped one short in that time.
A wonderful sideline cut from Diarmuid Masterson levelled matters with eight on the clock before we settled in to a dire 22 minutes of hurling for the most part that was set alight briefly by a powerful run through the heart of the Carnew defence by Pádraig Doyle that saw him feed tom Cash who fairly rifled home to the back of Michael Collin’s net.
Carnew grabbed a lifeline when Wayne Kinsella pounced on a ball that came off the upright off Eoin Mason’s hurl to make it 1-03 o 1-02 for Bray but Bray’s second goal,
scored again by Tom Cash, was a serious blow for Carnew who were struggling to maintain a presence in this game.
The half-time score read 1-04 to 1-03 for Bray and you wondered if Seanie Kinsella who was sitting on the bench having only just returned to the hurling fold would make an appearance after the break to bring some much needed bite and urgency to the Carnew cause.
Also not on the field for Carnew was Conal McCrea who was unavailable for selection and with Adrian Myers and Timmy Collins still out with injuries the options seemed fairly limited for Tom Darcy.
With Wayne Kinsella and John Walshe picking up injuries during the first half, the Carnew management sprung James Gregan and Mark Collins from the bench for the second half and things started to look a little bit better when Enda Donohue brought it back to a three-point game with a converted 65 and free after Liam Benville had pointed for Bray.
But that was most certainly as good as it got for Carnew. Bray moved smoothly up through the gears with a fine point from Conor McNally being followed by a missile strike to the back of the net from Pádraig Doyle to make it 3-06 to 1-05.
From here, Bray powered home with serious force despite losing Cian O’Byrne to a second yellow card after 15 minutes of the second half. A collection of their second half points came from wayward passing out of the Carnew defence and the final whistle was probably more appreciated by the Carnew men who headed straight for the dressing room rather than the victorious Bray side.
With seven of those missing 10 players from last year’s final panel due to return for the business end of this championship it’s not a silly thing to say that Bray have to be red hot favourites to claim another crown later this year.
With more hurling things will improve for Carnew but they are currently some distance from the standard of Bray and they will face massive tests in their clashes with Glenealy, St Pat’s and Éire Óg.
Scorers – Bray Emmets: Pádraig Doyle 1-05 (1f, 1 65), Tom Cash 2-02 (1f), Liam Benville 0-02, Diarmuid Masterson 0-01 (SL), Marc Lennon 0-01, Conor McNally 0-01, Eoin McCormack 0-01.
Carnew Emmets: Enda Donohue 0-05 (3f, 1 65), Wayne Kinsella 1-00, Don Hyland 0-01.
Bray Emmets: Eoin Mason; Conor O’Doherty, Peter Walsh, Karl Lacy; Ben McCormack, Peter Kiely, Daire Maloney; Diarmuid Masterson, Marc Lennon; Eoin McCormack, Pádraig Doyle, Liam Benville; Cian O’Byrne, Conor McNally, Tom Cash. Subs: Paddy Lee for M Lennon, Willie Keane for C McNally.
Carnew Emmets: Michael Collins; Willie Collins, Graham Keogh, John Walshe; Daire Foley, Martin O’Brien, Aaron Kinsella; Andrew Hughes, Oisin Furlong; Jack Doyle, Padraig Doran, Enda Donohue; Don Hyland, Wayne Kinsella, Robert Lambert. Subs: James Gregan for W Kinsella, Mark Collins for J Walshe, Cormac Doyle for O Furlong.
Referee: Ciaran Manley (Glenealy)