Champagne stuff from keen rivals
CARNEW EMMETS GLENEALY 3-12 4-3
IT was the opening round of the Senior hurling championship in Wicklow this week 20 years ago as we take our weekly dip into the pages of the Wicklow and Bray People newspapers.
Champions Kiltegan were looking incredibly impressive as they dismantled Kilcoole, the Rocks thumped Avondale and new kids on the block Shillelagh found the going heard against an improving Pat’s side.
However, the ‘champagne hurling’ on that opening weekend was served up by arch rivals Glenealy and Carnew although the writer was most uncertain as to whether either of them would be toasting with the bubbly at the end of the campaign given the real power lay in the hands of the defending champions.
‘Hurleys crumbled all over the field under the intensity of the battle waged by Glenealy and Carnew in Arklow on Sunday evening last but at the end of the day there was no doubt but that Carnew were the better side over the hour and fully deserved their six-point win,’ wrote Mark Kennedy who seemed mightily impressed by the fare on show at Pearse’s Park.
A bright start for the Carnew men set them on the road to victory – a Don Hyland point and a John Joe Myers goal inside three minutes leaving Glenealy to play catch up for the remainder of the game.
However, one man was singled out for holding the Glenealy men at bay and that was full-back Gary Doran who along with fine showings from Timmy Collins, Robert Doyle, Joe Murphy and
Don Hyland helped secure a sweet victory in a sizzling game of championship hurling that seemed to suggest a bright season ahead.
Referee Declan Peppard comes in for an early mention in the match report, a sure sign that there was a serious ‘bite’ to the encounter. He ‘kept a tight rein on the exchanges throughout while at the same time allowing play to ebb and flow up and down the field at a blistering pace,’ wrote Kennedy.
Leighton Glynn had Glenealy’s opening score after six minutes but Carnew were in flying form and replied swiftly with two points from centre-forward Joe Murphy, a single from future manager and county selector Thomas Darcy followed by a goal from Don Hyland who had the easiest of tap ins after Joey Driver was forced into a superb save from a sizzler from Emmet O’Sullivan out on the wing.
The game looked over for Glenealy when Carnew bagged their third goal but Tom Byrne threw the Reds a lifeline when he goaled to leave Glenealy trailing by 3-5 to 1-1 at half-time.
Full-forward John Phelan, getting very little change from Gary Doran up to this point, raised a green flag after Adrian Doyle had saved from the lively Leighton Glynn. This was followed by two points for Carnew and a major for Glenealy from Tom Byrne.
Reporter Mark Kennedy describes this encounter as ‘heart-warming stuff’ and highlights the performances of Declan Doyle, Michael Anthony O’Neill, Wayne O’Gorman, Leighton Glynn and John Phelan as being very positive for Glenealy.
But two points from the excellent Joe Murphy and a third from Emmet O’Sullivan wiped out the advantage accrued from the Tom Byrne goal and while they managed further points from Enan Glynn and Wayne O’Gorman it was Joe Murphy who popped up with another fine point to sicken their challenge.
Glenealy were reduced to 14 for the last 10 after Tom Byrne was dismissed and despite ‘throwing caution to the wind’, the Reds were toppled after an ‘absorbing finale to a great game of hurling’.