Charleville pushed all the way by wasteful Mallow in Senior A clash
Charleville 0-22 Mallow 1-16
WITH no quarter asked or given in the all North Cork clash, this Co Op Superstores County Senior A Hurling Championship developed into a competitive battle before Charleville shrugged off a determined Mallow challenge to secure a hard earned victory at sunny Kilbrin last Saturday.
At times, the fare might had been less than impressive but nevertheless riveting as the play swung from end to end. The sides were deadlocked on seven occasions only for Charleville to stand their ground and put a productive spell to good use.
As Charleville established momentum, they made it count on the scoreboard with delightful points to secure a deserved win. Credit Mallow, they competed admirably all through, refusing to go away and presented their opponents with a searching test of their mettle but they were let down by poor shooting at vital stages.
The outcome sees Charleville claim back to back wins in Group B and in a healthy position to advance to the knockout phase. That compares sharply to Mallow, two losses to Fermoy and Charleville sees no points secured and a win is a must in their final Group outing against Bandon in two weeks.
With the hurling matching a hot temperature, a lively opening saw a pair of lead points from Mallow’s Gary Sweeney cancelled by Andrew Cagney and Darragh Fitzgibbon. Interestingly, Fitzgibbon drifted deep to win possession, Charleville’s play gained confidence, points from the county player and Jack Doyle helped gain a 0-6 to 0-3 advantage.
Mallow answered with rallying points to full back Fionn O’Neill, Paul Lyons and Aaron Sheehan for parity. The pendulum continued to swing from one end of the field to the other, no surprise that the sides were level on six occasions during the first half.
Charleville might well had goaled only for Mallow ‘keeper Podge Buckley to produce a fabulous save from Doyle. Such heroics lifted the Mallow challenge, inspired by the play of O’Neill, Pa Healy and Ronan Sheehan, they earned a reward from points to Aaron Sheehan and Denis Hayes to force a 0-11 to 0-9 advantage at the break.
Mallow restarted with a flourish, Cormac Murphy pointed on the double with Hayes also on target in a quick turnaround either side of the interval. Charleville refused to be ruffled and remained in hot pursuit with Fitzgibbon, Danny O’Flynn and Gavin Kelleher finding the range to square matters again at 0-15 apiece by the three quarter mark.
Fitzgibbon had nudged his ahead by the water break as Charleville grabbed the reins of control, the positive play of Alan Dennehy, Finbarr Cagney, Jack Callaghan and O’Flynn contributed generously to the cause. O’Flynn and Fitzgibbon added points, further contrasting play saw Mallow pass up opportunities from both play and placed balls as they questioned a few of the decisions. Whatever Charleville were much more economical with the scoring efforts of Fitzgibbon and Doyle extended their position on the scoreboard.
Far from finished, Mallow offered commendable battling qualities and a terrific chance was passed up, Charleville ‘keeper Cian Collins equal to a penalty effort from Murphy. And to rub salt into the Mallow wounds, Charleville swept upfield for the impressive Andrew Cagney deliver his third point of the afternoon.
To their credit, Mallow continued to scrap and duly earned a glimmer of hope and stung the Charleville rearguard with a late goal from substitute Charlie Carroll. Still Charleville held the necessary breathing space and sighed relief at the full time whistle to secure a hard earned three point triumph, good enough to secure pole position in Group B, that leaves Bandon, Fermoy and Mallow searching for a reprieve when the hurling championship resumes at the end of the month. CHARLEVILLE: C Collins; D Butler, J Meade, M O’Flynn; J Barry, A Dennehy, F Cagney; D O’Flynn 0-2, J O’Callaghan 0-1; M Kavanagh, D Fitzgibbon 0-11 (9f), J Doyle 0-3; D Casey, G Kelleher 0-2, A Cagney 0-3. Sub: T Hawe for M Kavanagh (HT).
MALLOW: P Buckley; J O’Hanlon, F O’Neill 0-1, J Healy; P Healy, R Sheehan, D Moynihan; P Lyons 0-1, N O’Riordan; G Sweeney 0-2, P Herlihy, K Sheehan 0-2; A Sheehan 0-5 (3f, 2 ‘65’), C Murphy0-3, D Hayes 0-2. Subs: G O’Sullivan for J Healy (48), C Carroll 1-0 for G Sweeney (48), J Hayes for R Sheehan (54), D Buckley for K Sheehan (bs).
REFEREE: C Lane (Banteer)
COUNTY BOARD FIXTURES