Castlelyons Notes (23rd Sep)

• Sep 23,2024

Seniors Win a Classic 

Our Senior A hurlers are through to the Semi-final of the county championship. It is difficult to describe the rollercoaster of emotions that we all went through after their nail-biting win against Na Piarsaigh. After 80 minutes of hurling these two teams couldn’t be separated and a mammoth 26 penalty shootout commenced. Anthony Spillane, like many times in the past, was the hero as he held his nerve to fire in the winning penalty. What drama to conclude a game of such magnitude. A shame for Na Piarsaigh who were valiant in their endeavours but there had to be a loser and we were delighted to come out on top in this match. Rapturous celebrations after as we go and play a Senior Semi-final for only the 2^nd time in our history against the famed Glen Rovers. We can’t wait. The game itself was played at a very high intensity, Castlelyons going into an early lead with Barry Murphy and James Kearney pushing us into a 0-03 to 0-01 lead. Na Piarsaigh Rallied and found a purple patch midway through the 1^st half and reeled off 5 unanswered points to claim the lead. The turning point in the first half came when David Morrison pounced on a mistake in the Northsiders defence and buried the ball into the net. Game On! Points from Anto, Eoin Maye and Alan Fenton form a placed ball fired us back into the lead. Na Piarsaigh were under pressure with Castlelyons moving sow well and it seemed like we would drive home our advantage only for Anthony to miss a goal chance when his pulled shot went wide of the post. Keith O’Leary had our final score in the half to score his 2^nd point of the day to leave us in a deserved 1-12 to 0-10 lead at the break. Na Piarsaigh wasted no time in responding at the resumption. They scored 1-03 without reply to retake the lead. Castlelyons play falling a bit flat. They were much the better team for a lot of the 2^nd half of normal time and looked the winners after 56 minutes with a 4 point lead and time running out. Fortunes can reverse in the blink of an eye in hurling and you couldn’t take your eyes of this game for fear of missing out. Leon Doocey fired home a goal to restart the comeback after great work by Niall O’Leary and David Morrison. Alan Fenton followed with 2 points to leave us 2 points in front entering injury time. Piarsaighs struck for their 2^nd goal after weaving their way through our defence. Alan managed to fire over the equaliser before ethe ref blew for full time and sent us to extra-time. If our hearts weren’t tested up to this point then we had no idea the pressure they were about to come under. In extra time both sides were visibly tired with some wayward shooting. The city side seemed to be handling the tempo a bit better though and were 3 points to the good with time nearly up. With a last gasp long ball into the square, Colm Spillane was fouled and a 21 yard free was ordered by referee Colm Lyons. Up stood Alan Fenton and his bullet of a shot found its way through the mass of bodies to rattle to Piarsaighs net with the last puck of the game. Penalties up next. The tension was palpable as the shootout started. There were some fantastic saves by both keepers throughout. Agonising misses and some outstanding finishes. Somebody’s nerve had to break first and thankfully our sake Anto was able to hold his when it mattered most. Two and a half hours from when the ball was first thrown in our fate was finalised. We were through to the Senior A Semi-final. Amazing! Hard luck to Na Piarsaigh who battled bravely throughout. We take on fellow northside club Glen Rovers in the Semi-final now in a monumental game on Saturday week. 

Scorers for Castlelyons: A Fenton 1-11 (1-4 f, 0-2 65), K O’Leary 0-5, D Morrison, L Doocey 1-0 each, A Spillane, J Kearney, B Murphy 0-2 each, E Maye 0-1.

CASTLELYONS: J Barry; D Spillane, C Barry, O Hallihan; N O’Leary, C Spillane, L Sexton; J Kearney, A Fenton; A O'Sullivan, B Murphy, K O'Leary; E Maye, D Morrison, A Spillane.

Subs: C McCarthy for E Maye, L Doocey for L Sexton (both 48), J O'Leary for D Spillane (51), L Sexton for A O’Sullivan (60), B Spillane for D Morrison (69), E Maye for B Murphy, D Spillane for C Barry (both 75). 

Juniors Win in Extra-time

More drama ensued on Sunday morning as our Junior B hurlers got the better of Watergrasshill in The East Cork Semi-final played in Carrignavar. The ‘Hill gave us a bit of a trimming when the sides met in the league few months ago so we knew this game would be no easy assignment. The sides were evenly match throughout, with neither side able to open up a commanding lead at any stage. Brian O’Donovan scored our first point from play with the lively Jack Cremin following on soon after with his first. Shane Cotter was a thorn in Watergrasshill’s side throughout and was on the scoresheet after 18 mins to place us 0-06 to 0-04 in the lead. Castlelyons had some wayward shooting and the ‘Hill punished us as they came back to level the game before half time to leave the score 0-08 a piece at the break. Playing against a slight wind in the 2^nd half Castlelyons knew we had to up our game and although Watergrasshill seemed like they were in the ascendency they couldn’t find the killer blow. Great defending from Oisín Morrison, Liam Moroney and Shane Flynn kept our defence resolute. Brian O’Donovan found his range with the frees and was slotting them over for fun. Helping keep us in the game. Watergrasshill found themselves 3 points to the good half way through the half but Darran Tobin helped reduce the deficit to 2 points. Substitute Cees Kouwenburg was causing difficulties in the ‘Hill defence. With Watergrasshill winning by a point with time nearly up. Brian O’Donovan slotted over a free to send us into our 2^nd Extra-time within 24 hrs. Extra-time was a fraught and hard fought affair within no inch given or taken. There were plenty of hard hits from both teams and sore bodies on all sides. Watergrasshill edged in front but Shane Cotter fired over his third point of the day to leave it level 0-17 to 0-17 at half time of extra time. A frantic final 10 minutes saw wides from both sides, missed frees and total commitment as we managed to edge into the lead with a Brian O’Donovan free. As Watergrasshill sought frantically for the equaliser Cess Kouwenburg won the ball in the full forward line and was fouled in the square to give us a penalty. With time nearly up, Dunny popped the ball over the bar to give us a two point cushion. The final whistle was then blown to send us back to an East Cork Junior B final for the first time in 7 years. A brilliant weekend for the club with an East Cork final and a County Semi-final to now look forward to.

Team: G O’Neill, Oisin Morrison, L Moroney, S Moroney, S Flynn, C McCarthy, M Rosner, Colm O’Neill, P Roche (0-03), B O’Donovan (0-10, 0-08f)), R Fenton, D Tobin (0-04,0-01f), S Cotter (0-03), C McGann, J Cremin (0-01).

Subs: C Kowenburg for C McGann 46 mins, E Barry for S Moroney 48 mins, R Feeney for J Cremin 55 mins

Up-Coming Fixtures

Senior ‘A’ Hurling Championship Semi-Final V Glen Rovers Saturday October 5^th at 5.45pm in Páirc Uí Chaoimh  

Lotto

Numbers drawn on 16^th September were 6, 19, 30 and 31. There was no winner of the Jackpot. Next week’s Jackpot is €20,000. Make sure to buy your ticket to be in with a chance to win. Lucky Dip winners were Christy Daly, Michael & Ann Sheehan, Paula Kearney, Carmel & William Ryan, Bob Kelly, Ita Meade, Ciaran Barry, Betty & Hugh. The next draw will take place Monday 30^th September at 8.00pm in the Community Centre. 

Sponsor

Thanks to our sponsors East Cork Oil for their continued support.