The general consensus after this high-scoring thriller in Castlemartyr on Sunday evening last was that we had the best team by far but Cloyne had the best player. ‘Tis seldom in hurling that a team scores 2-14 and yet loses, but that’s what happened on Sunday night. When we played the drawn game in this under 21 championship a month ago it was played in an absolute deluge, then Sunday evening conditions were perfect and there was a fine crowd present. We were behind by 1-2 to 0-3 early on but a Brendan Cotter goal game us the lead. With Shane Murphy in great point scoring form we went 3 points up. Paudie O’Sullivan from Cloyne however was the difference between winning and losing. Out of the Cloyne total of 5-9 he scored 4-7. Ten minutes in to the second half we got on top. A cracker of a goal from Alan O’Keeffe put us up 3 points. We could easily have doubled this lead a minute later but we got a ’65 instead which resulted in a wide. From the puck out Cloyne gat a point. It was very close then for the second half and we trailed by just a point entering in to injury time but a penalty goal put 4 between us and that’s how it finished. Final score Cloyne 5-9 to Rovers 2-14. It was a heartbreaking defeat for Jim O’Connor and his team. Over the two games we probably deserved to win but there is just no stopping Paudie O’Sullivan. Of the 16 players who played on Sunday night 13 are underage next year so lads set your sight on it now.
Team & Scorers: V O’Keeffe, S Kearney, L Forde, J O’Connor, P O’Brien, S Walsh (0-1), M Kearney, K Collins, E O’Flynn (0-2), S Murphy (0-9), M Collins, (0-1), B Cotter (1-0), D Arnold, A O’Keeffe (1-0), C O’Keeffe (0-1). Sub: D O’Brien.
A word of thanks to John O’Dowd, Alan Fitzgerald, Tim McAuliffe and Pat Walsh for their work with this bunch of lads.
