County League V Cashel

Kilruane MacDonaghs 3-17 Cashel King Cormacs 2-11

The senior hurlers booked their place in the county league semi-final when they had nine points to spare against Cashel in MacDonagh Park. MacDonaghs fielded without Seamus Hennessy, Eoin Hogan, Shane Quinlan, Kevin Quinlan and Brian O Meara. Kevin has a serious knee injury and it looks like he will be sidelined for the season. MacDonaghs were against the wind in the first half, playing into the scoreboard end. Justin Cahill slotted over the opening point from a free and Mark O Meara and Mikey Costello raised two more white flags. Seven minutes had elapsed before Cashel opened their account with a point and they tacked on three more unanswered points as MacDonaghs failed to translate their superiority into scores. For twenty minutes Kilruane failed to trouble the scoreboard operator despite a liberal amount of possession. Then came the best score of the game. Mark O Meara cut through the Cashel defence, offloaded the sliotar to Mikey Costello who laid in on for Justin Cahill to bat to the net to give MacDonaghs a slender one point lead. However, the advantage was short lived as in the 28th minute goalkeeper Ger Corcoran failed to control a long delivery and the ball ended up in the Kilruane net. This setback jolted the home team into action with Justin Cahill adding his third point which was quickly followed by a goal from Mark O Meara in the 31st minute. Mikey Costello rounded off the first half scoring with his second point to leave the scoreboard reading 2-6 to 1-6 in favour of MacDonaghs. The home side had dominated possession in the opening half and should have been further ahead at the break.

With the wind at their backs in the second half MacDonaghs upped the tempo. Mark O Leary and Ray McLoughney were in tremendous form on the halfback line and Diarmuid Cahill was very effective at midfield. The forwards now began to find their range with Justin Cahill and Mark O Meara always looked threatening. When substitute Darren Killackey struck home the third goal from close range the writing was on the wall for Cashel. The gap was extended to twelve points and the selectors had the luxury of introducing the full complement of substitutes. As the game petered out MacDonaghs relaxed and the visitors were rewarded with a goal from a twenty metre free which had been moved forward twice, an example of indiscipline which could prove costly in a close contest. Kilruane were always in control in this game and the destiny of the points was never in doubt. The defence was solid all through with Mark O Leary and Ray McLoughney continually putting MacDonaghs on the offensive. Diarmuid Cahill showed a welcome return to form at midfield. Despite the impressive scoreline the forwards apart from Justin Cahill Mark O Meara and Mikey Costello failed to sparkle. The return of Shane Quinlan and Brian O Meara should help bring a cutting edge to the attack.

Team: Ger Corcoran, Liam Gibson, Stephen Murphy, Gavin McAvinchey, Ray McLoughney (0-3), Mark O Leary, Pádraig Kelly, Alan Ryan (0-1), Diarmuid Cahill, Martin Walsh (0-1), Denis Cahill, Jonathan Cahill, Mikey Costello (0-4), Mark O Meara (1-2) and Justin Cahill (1-4). Subs: Darren Killackey (1-1), Colm Williams, James Williams (0-1), William Cleary and Freddie Williams