Sendings off prove costly as Chareville see title slip away
Oranmore-Maree 2-17 Charleville 1-15
CHARLEVILLE’S adventures in the All Ireland Intermediate club hurling championship came to a disappointing conclusion last Sunday when the north Cork side lost out to Oranmore-Maree of Galway by five points in Croke Park.
In front of the teams, friends, families and supporters the boys in red battled all the way to the finish, but ultimately failed to take the spoils after two red cards and a late penalty decision ended their dreams of glory.
Nerves were obvious from the word go in the Charleville team as players found it hard to grab, lift or even retain the ball in the opening exchanges.
Oranmore-Maree were never likely to be anything other than strong in the challenge as their game is built on a physically strong presence all over the pitch and, at times in the first half, Charleville seemed to be a little on the back foot, but with Darragh Fitzgibbon smacking over all the early scores Charleville were able to go toe-to-toe with the Connacht Champions.
Oranmore-Maree were first to trouble the score keeper with a point from full forward Padraic Keane, but the Cork All Star levelled things up on six minutes. Again the westerners struck, but in a tit-for-tat 10 minutes of hurling Fitzgibbon hit another four on the bounce to see his side lead on 20 minutes by the minimum 0-5 to 0-4.
A wonderful point from Charleville’s talisman followed after a super pass from Danny O’Flynn had set him away and Charleville had the first two point lead of the game.
Niall Burke kept Oranmore-Maree in touch with a host of terrific first half scores with two placed balls and a top quality point accounting for his first three conversions of the day. O’Flynn kept the pressure on Oranmore-Maree with a splendid score, set up by Fitzgibbon, and Charleville were beginning to get a handle on then opposition.
Charleville pushed three clear with a score from Jack Doyle before Andrew Cagney sent the Cork side’s fans ecstatic with a goal of real quality two minutes before the interval.
Cagney looked to have lost his chance when he failed to take in a pass from O’Flynn however a brilliant turn sent him through on goal and the corner-forward made no mistake.
Oranmore-Maree’s Niall Burke bagged another point with Alan Burke getting his second of the afternoon to keep things tight but points from Kevin O’Connor and Conor Buckley sent Charleville deservedly in at the break up by six, 1-10 to 0-7.
If Oranmore-Maree were to get back into this one they needed to get off the mark quickly and thanks to a brace of points from Niall Burke the Galway side showed they were far from out of this one however their tormentor and chief Fitzgibbon wasn’t about to take his foot from their throats as he hit back with another successful free.
Burke and Fitzgibbon traded points before a point from Seán McInerney in the 38th minute brought the gap back to a very manageable four points.
Charleville suffered their first big blow of the game soon after when they lost Jack Doyle after an altercation with Oranmore-Maree’s corner-back Seán Bannon. The dismissal of the influential wing-forward was followed by a serious period of Oranmore-Maree dominance when the boys in blue hit two scores, Burke and Gearóid McInerney, to cut the gap to two.
Cagney again came to the rescue with a classy long range score with the ever reliable Fitzgibbon just missing out on another score as a free from distance dropped agonisingly wide.
Second half substitute Éanna Burke again brought this one down to two and at this point Charleville were being beaten up in the middle third as the Oranmore-Maree superior strength, allied to the extra man seemed to be taking over.
A brace of Hawkeye decisions went against the Cork side before the Munster Champions were down to thirteen with Cathal Carroll following Doyle for an early shower.
Charleville had a chance to goal late on but a brilliant save from Rory McInerney denied Charleville before Niall Burke ended this one as a contest when he blasted home a late penalty.
Charleville could easily have won this one but on the day couldn’t really have any complaints. A brilliant challenge just failed to deliver at the final hurdle.
ORANMORE-MAREE: R McInerney; S Bannon, S Geoghegan, A Bannon; M Hannify, G McInerney 0-1, L Keane; N Geoghegan, R Maher; M Quinn, A Burke 0-2, N Burke 1-11, (0-6f, 1 ’65, 1-0 pen); R Malone, P Keane 0-1, S McInerney 1-2 Subs: E Burke 0-1 for Quinn (44); N Qualter for L Keane (50); S Dunne for N Geoghegan (58)
CHARLEVILLE: C Collins; D Butler, J Meade, F Cagney; A Dennehy, J Buckley, C Carroll; J O’Callaghan, K O’Connor 0-1; D Casey, D Fitzgibbon 0-10, (7f, 1 ’65), J Doyle 0-1; C Buckley 0-1, D O’Flynn 0-1, A Cagney 1-1 Subs: T Hawe for O’Connor (55)
REFEREE: C Cunning (Antrim)