Dr Crokes 1-15
Castlehaven 1-8
KIERAN McCARTHY REPORTS
THIS is one that will rankle in the Castlehaven camp. It wasn’t the fact they lost to Dr Crokes, it was that they didn’t perform in this Munster club quarter-final. That stings.
‘We knew coming here that we needed to perform and we needed things to go our way – and neither happened. We didn’t perform and things just didn’t fall for us,’ Haven boss Seanie Cahalane admitted after they relinquished their grip on their Munster senior title.
In true Castlehaven style, they died with their boots on.
Trailing 1-11 to 0-7 down the home stretch at Lewis Road in Killarney – and down to 14 players, too, after Brian Hurley’s red card in the 49th minute – Castlehaven dug deep on a day that they never clicked.
Conor Cahalane pulled a point back in the 58th minute, and his older brother Damien then showed his soccer background to smash home a penalty after their younger brother Jack had been fouled on the goal-line. Suddenly, it was game on again. 1-11 to 1-8. The beginning of a famous comeback? Sadly, not.
Dr Crokes, on their home turf, didn’t panic in the five minutes of injury time. As Haven went in search of scores they needed, Crokes hit them on the counter, reeling off four points to eventually win by seven, Tony Brosnan adding two to bring his own tally to 1-7, just one off Castlehaven’s total.
‘The most disappointing thing is that we didn’t get the performance we needed, and the lads know that themselves that we are better than that,’ Seanie Cahalane pointed out – and the post mortem will try to figure out where it all went wrong on a day many expected the Cork champions to record a famous win on Kerry soil.
That plan suffered a serious setback before Haven even left home on Sunday morning as Cork senior Rory Maguire, a lynchpin of their defence, didn’t even travel after taking ill on Saturday and feeling worse the morning of the game. Damien Cahalane didn’t start either, with Seanie Cahalane confirming he hadn’t trained much since the county final win against Nemo. Few teams, if any, could soak up the absence of big-game players like those two.
Those losses certainly levelled the playing field against a Crokes team that has quality dotted all over the pitch, including Kerry roadrunner Gavin White, a quality defender with the gears to stick with Brian Hurley.
It was White’s first proper burst, early in the second half, that led to one of the defining moments: Dr Crokes penalty. A gap opened in the Haven defence, White galloped through, parted to Cian McMahon who was fouled in the square. Penalty. Castlehaven keeper Darragh Cahalane went the right way, to his left, but Brosnan’s venomous effort pushed Crokes four clear. 1-6 to 0-5, after one point had separated them at the break of this fiercely-contested clash.
‘The one thing that we didn’t want to do was give them a lead because they are a good football team and can hold possession. Unfortunately, that’s how it materialised and it left us chasing a bit in the second half,’ the Haven boss noted.
After Brosnan swelled the lead to five, Conor Cahalane skewed a goal effort wide after good defending by Charlie Keating. Missed goal chances was another theme of Haven’s day – Mark Collins had a low effort saved by Crokes goalkeeper Shane Murphy, while sub Conor O’Driscoll saw an effort fizz across the goal, both chances in the second half. It began to look like one of those days.
By the time Thomas O’Mahony and Brian Hurley tagged on two quickfire points, it reduced the gap to four, 1-8 to 0-7. While things were going wrong for Castlehaven in front of a packed house on a mild November Sunday across the county bounds – Munster GAA ran out of match programmes before throw-in – Crokes were purring, with veteran Kieran O’Leary scoring with his first touch. Then came Brian Hurley’s straight red for a high challenge on Crokes forward Cian McMahon who was coming out with the ball. Now the Haven were in serious trouble. Crokes added two more points to lead by six before the West Cork men’s late burst that sparked the game into life again.
The first half had promised more for Castlehaven. After Crokes fired off the opening two scores, brilliant efforts from distance from Cathal Maguire, Andrew Whelton and a Brian Hurley free nudged the Haven in front after nine minutes, 0-3 to 0-2. Crokes came again with two scores, but back came Cork’s finest with a Jack O’Neill score and Brian Hurley free to lead again, 0-5 to 0-4. Brosnan’s third point of the half and a Michael Potts score nudged the home side in front at the break, and was part of an unanswered 1-4 before and after the interval that changed this game, and left an off-colour Castlehaven chasing a race that they never hit top speed in. This will rankle alright.
Scorers
Dr Crokes: Tony Brosnan 1-7 (3f); Kieran O’Leary, Micheál Burns (f) 0-2 each; Michael Potts, Charlie Keating, Cian McMahon, Maidhci Lynch 0-1 each.
Castlehaven: Damien Cahalane 1-0 pen; Brian Hurley 0-3 (2f); Cathal Maguire, Andrew Whelton, Jack O’Neill, Thomas O’Mahony, Conor Cahalane 0-1 each.
Dr Crokes: Shane Murphy; Evan Looney, Fionn Fitzgerald, Maidhci Lynch; Charlie Keating, Gavin White, Brian Looney; Mark O’Shea, Michael Potts; Micheál Burns, Gavin O’Shea, Tom Doyle; Tony Brosnan, David Shaw, Cian McMahon.
Subs: Kieran O’Leary for C Keating (44), John Payne for T Doyle (50), Daithi Casey for C McMahon (50), David Naughton for M Potts (57).
Castlehaven: Darragh Cahalane; Jamie O’Driscoll, Thomas O’Mahony, Johnny O’Regan; Jamie Walsh, Robbie Minihane, Jack O’Neill; Mark Collins, Andrew Whelton; Brian Hurley, Cathal Maguire, Jack Cahalane; Sean Browne, Michael Hurley, Conor Cahalane.
Subs: Damien Cahalane for J Walsh (40), Conor O’Driscoll for S Browne (47), Micheál Maguire for R Minihane (53), Ronan Walsh for J O’Driscoll (53), Ciarán O’Sullivan for A Whelton (56).
Referee: Sean Lonergan (Tipperary).
