Coill Dubh edge titanic battle with Éire Óg Corrachoill but crash out of SHC at group stage
Coill Dubh 3-18
Éire Óg Corrachoill 2-19
Haven Hire SHC Group B round 3
Coill Dubh came through a thriller against Éire Óg Corrachoill in the final round of the losers’ group in the Senior Hurling Championship, but it won’t be enough as Celbridge’s facile win over Clane in the other group game meant that the 2015 champions crash out of the championship.
Johnny Byrne starred for the victors with six points from play, while Declan Flaherty bagged two goals in what was an enthralling game and probably the best of the championship so far.
The fact that Barry Cormack hooked over a beautiful point from halfway after just 17 seconds gave an indication of what was to come in the first half as both of these teams played some really high quality hurling to provide an open and entertaining encounter.
Coill Dubh roared into the game, and led by the excellent Johnny Byrne who opened their scoring after just over a minute, they went 0-3 to 0-1 clear very quickly. Eanna O’Neill sent over a fine effort after robbing possession around the middle, before county footballer Byrne rifled over his second after powering down the centre.
Kevin Connor responded with a sumptuous score of his own from the left wing, but Coill Dubh dominated for a spell after that. O’Neill stroked over his second in the fifth minute, before Conor Carew raised white flags from a ’65 and a free. They could have goaled in the seventh minute when Byrne broke down the left and smashed a shot on goal, but Paul Dermody produced a brave block to send the ball out for a ’65.
Momentum swung back into the favour of Éire Óg Corrachoill for all of three minutes, but they did make their mini purple patch count. The ever accurate Garry Johnson floated over a ’65 before driving over an inspirational effort from play, and in the 15th minute they netted the game’s opening goal when Paul Kennedy’s shot for a point landed well short, but veteran Joe Dempsey was alert to the breaking ball and found the top corner of Damien Byrne’s net.
Coill Dubh responded emphatically as Ross Carew played a long ball into Declan Flaherty who found space and angled a beautiful finish across Paul Dermody and into the net.
Liam Power and Johnny Byrne swapped points after that, before another score from the impressive Connor drew Éire Óg Corrachoill to within one.
Coill Dubh pulled clear over the next 10 minutes however, with Flaherty getting the ball rolling after he claimed a long ball from Diarmuid Cahill and provided another smart finish to the bottom corner. Ryan Casey pushed them five clear with a fine point from the right, before Carew added another from a free. Coill Dubh’s scoring for the half concluded with a brilliant 28th minute effort on the turn from 60 metres out, but they had built up a seven-point cushion by this stage. Johnson kept Éire Óg Corrachoill in contention by smacking over a couple of points from placed balls before the break, leaving the scores at 2-10 to 1-8.
Éire Óg Corrachoill started the second half in fine fashion, and they were led excellently by Tim Hennessy who really came to the fore. The big full-forward knocked over a point, and with just over a minute of the new half subsided, he managed to bundle home a loose ball after substitute Conor Kielty had a shot blocked.
Ryan Casey kept Coill Dubh ticking over with their first point of the half, before Connor and Byrne traded scores at either end. Hennessy boomed over a sensational point to cut the gap to one, and with 10 minutes gone in the second half Éire Óg Corrachoill managed to claw themselves level when Johnson converted a ’65.
Tom Carew’s side had a great chance to net a third goal when Delaney claimed a ball that went over the top of the Éire Óg Corrachoill defence, but he clipped a close range shot over the bar. Casey sent the men in red two points clear when splitting the posts with a sensational effort from the right touchline, and they put some really daylight between themselves and their opponents midway through the half when Mark Delaney buried a penalty to the roof of the net after Flaherty had been hauled to the ground by Brian Fitzpatrick.
The next 10 minutes were intriguingly tight as both sides traded blows, though that suited Coill Dubh perfectly. Johson landed a couple of points as Éire Óg Corrachoill tried desperately to close the gap, but O’Neill and Byrne ensured that Coill Dubh maintained their healthy cushion at the other end.
Colin Gleeson’s men went on a scoring spurt in the last three minutes of normal time to set up a grandstand finish as Cillian Manders, Johnson and Connor all hit the target to cut the gap to just three points, but O’Neill showed great leadership in stoppage time to skilfully carry the ball 50 metres through the centre of the pitch and hack over the insurance score to seal the Coill Dubh win.
Johnson landed a late ’65 and Paul Kennedy struck over a score to narrow the deficit once more, but Éire Óg Corrachoill needed goal which never came their way.
Scorers for Coill Dubh: D Flaherty 2-0, J Byrne 0-6, M Delaney 1-2(1-0pen), E O’Neill 0-4, R Casey and C Carew (1f, 1’65) 0-3 each.
Scorers for Éire Óg Corrachoill: G Johnson 0-9(6f, 2’65), T Hennessy 1-2, K Connor 0-4, J Dempsey 1-0, L Power, C Manders, P Kennedy and B Cormack 0-1 each.
Coill Dubh
Damien Byrne; Joseph Kenny, Mark Grace, Trevor McDonald; Dylan Brereton, Ross Carew, Diarmuid Cahill; Ronan Guilfoyle, Éanna O’Neill; Tom Brady, Johnny Byrne, Ryan Casey; Conor Carew, Declan Flaherty, Mark Delaney.
Subs used: Dean O’Regan for Brereton 50mins, Ruairí Hayden for C Carew 54mins.
Éire Óg Corrachoill
Paul Dermody; Niall Connolly, Brian Fitzpatrick, Kieran Moran; Rory O’Neill, James Dolan, Danny Boyle; Garry Johnson, Barry Cormack; Paul Kennedy, Owen Houlihan, Kevin Connor; Joe Dempsey, Tim Hennessy, Liam Power.
Subs used: Conor Kielty for Houlihan HT, Cillian Manders for Power 50mins.