Calry/ St Joseph’s All-Ireland campaign ends
CALRY/ ST JOSEPH’S 1- 7
MAYFIELD 1- 14
AIB All Ireland Club Junior Hurling Semi Final
CALRY/ ST JOSEPH’S dreams of reaching an All Ireland club final were dashed on Sunday as they left Tullamore on the wrong side of a seven point defeat at the hands of Cork side, Mayfield. On the balance of play, the seven point margin was accurate as a strong opening half showing from the Sligo champions withered in the second half as the Cork men got on top. Calry/ St Joseph’s were more than a match for them in the opening half but two key moments in the opening 10 minutes of the second half swung the game in favour of the Mayfield men who now move on to face Kilkenny’s Mooncoin in the All Ireland final. A fortunate goal from Nicky Kelly coupled with the sending off to Calry/ St Joseph’s Kevin Gilmartin saw the Sligo challenge stalled. Gilmartin was dismissed on a second yellow card while Kelly’s goal left the scores 1- 9 to 0- 5 and set the Sligo men a massive task with 20 minutes to play.
Keith Raymond was immense in the middle of the field for Calry/ St Joseph’s while up front Conor Griffin always looked a threat and his late goal was no more than he deserved. In the end however, the Cork men had too much firepower and led by Nicky Kelly, they found their scores that bit easier.
Calry/ St Joseph’s made a decent start and were fast out of the blocks. Keith Raymond was on free taking duty and he landed three inside the opening 10 minutes to give them a 0- 3 to 0- 1 lead. Mayfield slowly came into the game and they reversed a 0- 3 to 0- 1 deficit into a 0- 5 to 0- 3 lead by the 19th minute with Nicky Kelly landing three of those scores. Calry/ St Joseph’s weren’t about to lie down however and a well taken Griffin point was followed up by a massive Raymond free from distance to level the teams again on 22 minutes.
That was to be as good as it got for them though as Mayfield had the better of the closing eight minutes of the half with David O’Neill, Kevin Punch and Kelly all landing scores to give them a 0- 8 to 0- 5 half time lead.
The opening 10 minutes of the second half were always going to be massive and with only four minutes of the second half played, Nicky Kelly’s long ball in was misjudged by Chris Madden in the goals and Mayfield had the first goal of the game to give them a 1- 9 to 0- 5 lead. Before the half was 10 minutes old, they latched on two more points either side of Kevin Gilmartin picking up his second yellow card. At 1- 11 to 0- 5, Mayfield were in full control but only six more scores followed in the final 15 minutes as the game petered out. Calry/ St Joseph’s never threw in the towel and kept going to the end but outside of two Raymond frees, they rarely threatened the Mayfield goals with Michael O’Callaghan having a half goal chance snuffed out. With the game on 60 minutes, Mayfield had a flattering 1- 14 to 0- 7 lead but after Liam Reidy had a shot brilliantly saved by Richard O’Keefe Calry/ St Joseph’s hard work was rewarded with a consolation goal as Griffin raised the green flag in injury time. Calry/ St Joseph’s stayed battling to the end but there was no denying Mayfield of their trip to Croke Park. SCORERS: MAYFIELD: Nicky Kelly 1- 6 ( 0- 3f), David O’Neill 0- 4, Kevin Punch 0- 2, David Malone and Darren Hayes 0- 1 each. CALRY/ ST Joseph’s: Keith Raymond 0- 6 frees, Conor Griffin 1- 1. CALRY/ ST Josephs: Chris Madden; Tommy Kelly, Jamie Kenny, James Kerwin; Danny Keown, Cormac Behan, Liam Reidy; Ronan Cox, Keith Raymond; Kevin Gilmartin, Conor Griffin, Eolan McCarthy, David Collery, Michael Gilmartin, Michael O’Callaghan. Subs: Fiachra Coyne ( for Liam Reidy blood 26- 29m), Fiachra Coyne ( for James Kerwin 57m), Darragh Cox ( for Michael O’Callaghan 59m), Niall McDermott ( for Danny Keown 59m). MAYFIELD: Richard O’Keefe; Kieran Brosnan, Dan Lucey, Darren Hayes; Gary Lehane, Shane O’Donovan, Colm Bond; Kevin Punch, Colm O’Sullivan; David Malone, Nicky Kelly, David O’Neill; Shane Duggan, Kevin Walsh, Patrick Duggan. Subs: Ian Looney ( for David Malone 54m), Maurice Barry ( for Kevin Walsh 58m), Jordan O’Donovan ( for Darren Hayes 60m). Referee: Gearoid McGrath ( Wexford).