CTI Clonmel: 4-7 Gaelcholáiste Chiarraí: 4:13
On a wet Thursday in October we made the long journey to Rathkeale for our Munster Hurling Quarter-Final against Gaelcholáiste Chiarraí. It was our first time reaching this stage of the competition in a number of years but with the number of young, talented hurlers we have, it hopefully won’t be our last.
The game started with a downpour of rain followed by a downpour of scores from Gaelcholáiste Chiarraí. They hit 1-4 before we registered our first score. These early scores are what cost us later in the game. We hit three wides before hitting our first score – a goal from our youngest player on the panel: Darragh Landers. Good team play brought Darragh through on goal where his only option was to kick the ball into the net as he was being held back. An exceptional finish from a player who went on to play a big role throughout the match.
After the goal we had our period of dominance as Sean Cagney found his scoring range hitting 3 points (2 frees). His point from play was probably the score of the match. Turning on a six pence, he struck the ball on the swivel and put it between the posts. Although we dominated possession, we failed to capitalise whereas Gaelcholáiste Chiarraí were much more clinical and went on to tag on a number of scores before the half time whistle. There was further disappointment on the stroke of half time as CTI had a player sent to the line. This left us trailing at half time on a score line of 3-7 to 1-3.
At the start of the second half, we gave away a couple of silly frees to put a further deficit between the teams. After this we really rallied and for the last 20 minutes of the game all the qualities that you admire in a player such as bravery, resilience, determination and leadership came to the fore. This was led by David Cagney and Sean Kenny in defence as they powered out with an endless amount of ball to launch attacks on the Gaelcholáiste Chiarraí defence. This filtered up the pitch as Michael O Sullivan got a score as well as a brace from Sean Cagney.
The shackles were off at this stage and getting goals was a must. Our first came from the individual effort of Sean Cagney. He followed this up with another point before striking his second goal – which he got by chasing a lobbed in ball from a 65. Moments later, Michael O Sullivan found the back of the net and all of a sudden we found ourselves 3 points down with 2 minutes to go. A sideline free 20 metres out gave us a glimmer of hope and we decided to take our chances, placing a few bodies in around the goal for it. Our effort was blocked and Gaelcholáiste Chiarraí countered and scored a goal to leave 6 points between the sides at the finish.
This, I am sure, was one of those games that the lads will be mulling over for quite a while as there were a number of factors that went against them on the day. On a positive note, there were some outstanding performances all over the pitch. In the back line David Cagney ruled the roost and was our most comfortable player on the ball. He was assisted by an energetic Sean Kenny and captain Oisín Power who grew into the game, especially in the second half. Midfield was orchestrated well by Oisín Forristal and he was aided by a future star of the school Bobby Drohan. Up front, Sean Cagney was our main scoring threat and once again he contributed handsomely. A tigerish Darragh Landers played a huge role up front as well along with Michael O Sullivan and Jake Maunsell. This concludes the season for our under 16.5 hurlers. We look forward to seeing these players contribute to the senior and junior teams that are still left in their respected competitions.
Team:
Keenan Curtin, Eoin Freaney, David Cagney, Cian Power, Charlie O Callahan, Oisín Power (Captain), Sean Kenny, Oisín Forristal, Sean Cagney(2-6, 3f), Bobby Drohan, Michael O Sullivan (1-1), Darragh Landers (1-0), Harry O Leary, Jake Maunsell, Shane Taylor.
Subs:
Gearld Nugent for Cian Power
Thomas Dunphy for Eoin Freaney
Carl Nulud for Harry O Leary
John Molloy for Jake Maunsell
