For the second time in a row our Senior hurling team are through to the Cork County Senior Hurling League Final – the Conroy Cup. Our last game in the 2006 S.H.L. was in September. Along with Erins Own we qualified for the semi final of the competition. Sarsfields, Blackrock, Newtownshandrum and Midleton qualified for the quarter finals. In November Newtown beat Midleton to qualify to meet us in the semi final. In December several efforts were made to fix this game but all to no avail. Eventually we agreed to travel to Newtown last Wednesday night to get the game played. The floodlit facilities in Newtown are absolutely brilliant and the pitch was in perfect order. Wednesday night was cold, but for a change it was dry. Our lads started well. A point in the first minute from a free by Jerome was followed a few minutes later by a great goal from a semi penalty stroke by Barry Johnson. Playing with the aid of a stiffish breeze our play was much sharper all over the field. Our defence gave very little away and Jerome was on target for placed balls. Points from play by Terry, Michael Collins and Sean Ryan and a further 4 pointed free from Jerome saw us lead by 1-8 to 0-4 at the break.
The second half was like a carbon copy of our 2006 Senior Hurling Championship game against Newtown in Castletownroche, as we scored just once! On this occasion we held out for a deserved 2 point win. Newtownshandrum gradually came into the game with points from Ben O’Connor and a huge one from Pat Mulcahy. The margin was down to two with five minutes to go. These were frantic minutes as Newtown sought a winning goal. We held on for a 1-9 to 0-10 win to put us into the 2006 Senior Hurling League Final. Sarsfields and Blackrock must replay their quarter final game with the winners then to play County Champions Erins Own, so we’ll have a bit to wait!
This was a good win for us and got the season off to a good start.
Team & Scorers: D Fitzgerald, T Moloney, B Walsh, J Murphy, B Johnson (1-0), B Murphy, B Murphy, S Ryan (0-1), S Murphy, D Ryan, M Collins (0-1), J O’Driscoll (0-6), B Hazelwood, R Cahill, T Broderick (0-1).
