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| Adult Hurling - Archive |
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Playing down the hill on a heavy, November pitch that didn't help the quality of hurling, Cuala went point for point against their Lucan counterparts with Scott O'Brien and Rory Doyle holding sway in mid-field and John Sheanan, Brian Fitzgerald and Barry Lightburn very much on top in the half-back line. In fact long-range efforts from Lightburn and another from Doyle were the pick of the points in the first half. Shane Murphy at full-forward was always a danger and was winning his battle with Peter O'Callaghan, however the Lucan backs swarmed around both himself and David Treacy any time they received the sliothar and goal chances were hard to come by at both ends. Just before the half, an innocuous enough free given by the referee was questioned by the Cuala backs and resulted in the ball being moved to the 20m line in front of the goal. O'Reilly hit the ball for goal and, despite the best efforts of goalkeeper Stephen Butler, the ball deflected to the roof of the Cuala net. The Reds went into the break a goal down on a score-line of 1.7 to 0.7. Strong words must have been spoken by Manager Denis Byrne at half-time because the Cuala team burst out after the break with renewed vigour and had three unanswered point on the board before Lucan could get even get hold of the sliothar. Shane Murphy, with good support from Luke Keating and Jimmy Loonam in the corners, had a purple patch and hit three wonderful scores out of his personal tally of five in the early stages to bring Cuala level. Michael Fitzsimons was holding John McCaffrey out of the game at centre-forward and it looked as if Cuala would push on and take the honours. However, Lucan had other ideas. Their half-back line and mid-field began to gradually get the upper hand and with a steady supply of ball into their forwards and O'Reilly taking points from wide angles, Lucan edged ahead again. Ten minutes into the second half Cuala were awarded the first of two 20m frees for fouls on Treacy and Dan Keating. Shane Murphy twice went low but the Lucan defence held firm and, on both occasions, Cuala came away with nothing. This seemed to galvanise the Sarsfield players and, as the game opened up, with the advantage of playing down the hill, Lucan began to pull away. On a heavy pitch Treacy, Keating and Murphy could not elude the Lucan rearguard and relied on six frees from Treacy over the course of the game to stay in touch. Things didn't get better for Cuala when Brian Fitzgerald, arguably Cuala's man of the match, shipped a very strong challenge which seemed to take him out of the game with fifteen to go. The Cuala full-back line of Shane Holden, Oisin Gough and David Moloney had played so solidly throughout, that Butler in nets had to make only one save over the course of the 60 minutes. The long-range efforts finally won the day for Lucan leaving Cuala to rue the missed chances. Lucan progress to the semis and must be strong favourites to take the title. Well done to both teams and Managers for a spirited and sporting display of hurling. For Cuala - not such a good day at the office! But surely there
are happier days to come.
Cuala dominated the game from start to finish and clocked up 4 points with scores from Dunne (2 frees), the excellent David Treacy and tireless Ogie Ryan before Mearnogs got off the mark with a free from Dublin ace Shane Ryan. The Cuala forward-line worked tirelessly throughout and constantly closed down the Mearnog back-line who wilted early on under the Cuala pressure. When Treacy squared a low ball across for Dunne to strike to the net just before the interval, the writing was on the wall for the Portmarnock side. With Ryan constantly a threat on the left wing, winning ball and driving towards the Mearnog goal, Cuala went in at half-time with 1.13 on the score-board and Mearnog's needed a minor miracle to get back into the game. After the break, Ogie Ryan continued to lead the attack picking up a lot of ball from the huge puck-outs from Cuala net-minder, Fintan O'Brien, and with wing-forwards Rory Doyle and Scott O'Brien tormenting the Mearnog backs, the score-board continued to clock up for the reds. However, it was not all plain sailing for the Dalkeymen. Naomh Mearnog came back at the Cuala men after the interval, and but for a number of wasted long range frees and wasted opportunities from the hand, the Portmarnock outfit would have been much closer to their south-side adversaries. The net-minder for Cuala pulled off a number of saves to ensure the comeback was not going to last. Cuala's John Sheanan and Shane Keily began to dominate at mid-field and the Cuala half-back line began to exert their dominance with Rob Reid and Bobby Brown converting long-range efforts. Sheanan clipped over three points of his own from play and with Treacy showing sheer class up front, the game became a one-sided affair as Cuala dominated most positions on the field. Cuala's full-back line of O'Drisceoil, Gough and Schutte were tested on a number of occasions but stood up well to the challenge with solid, efficient defence. The line was breached on one occasion when a fierce drive from the Mearnog centre-forward found the roof of the net. Cunningham, Fitzgerald, Keating and O'Dowd were brought into the game with 20 minutes to go and the game was over as a contest when O'Dowd struck the bar with a 40 yd drive and Dunne followed in to drive the rebound to the net. St. Judes beat St. Brigids in the other play-off game which means that Cuala and Judes will remain in top-flight Championship in 2009, with Mearnog's and Brigids contesting the B Championship. Another very satisfactory day at the office!
Cuala's 15 showed much greater hunger and determination from the throw-in and had the score-board ticking over nicely with 15 minutes on the clock. Brigids however overcame a slow start, began to show what they were capable of and the game developed into a good contest with no quarter given or asked. When Eoghan Dunne stepped up to take a free 30m out from the St. Brigid's goal, no-one expected him to go for anything other than a point. But Eoghan had other ideas and found the back of the net with a tremendous shot despite the best efforts of the Brigids keeper. Cuala came in at half time with a four point cushion. The two youngsters in the full-back line, Oisin Gough and Paul Schutte, agus "an fear aosta" Colman O'Drisceoil hardly put a foot wrong all day and were very solid throughout. The Brigids attack had to fight very hard to get any return for their efforts. Andy Brown was a powerhouse at centre-back and had a commanding influence around the centre of the field. Bobby Brown and Rob Reid cleaned up any loose ball and launched attack after attack into the Brigids rear-guard. John Sheanan worked tirelessly and bravely around the middle of the field and he and Shane Keily looked very comfortable as a mid-field partnership. Keily helped himself to two long-range points in the first half by coming from deep in support of the Cuala attack. The real damage however was inflicted by the Cuala forwards who harried and hustled and never allowed the Brigids backs get in a meaningful clearance. The inside forwards, with David Treacy in devastating form, repeatedly won good ball in front of their markers or forced frees from the Brigid's defence. Treacy helped himself to five points from play and tormented the Saint's backline who eventually had to resort to fouling him. Eoghan Dunne was deadly from the placed ball and took a goal and five from the game. Shane Murphy was quiter than usual but still helped himself to a goal and two. Scott O'Brien scored the point of the match from way out on the right wing. Half way through the second half it looked like the game was over as a contest but Brigids had other ideas. A goal from a 21m free was followed almost immediately by another which shook the confidence of the Cuala players and had the Cuala faithful wondering if this was going to become another slip-up in this "banana-skin" season for the Dalkey Reds. Brigids had all the momentum now and went forward in waves looking for a third goal. The Cuala timbers began to creak and Fintan O'Brien had to pull off a great save from a low ground ball struck to his left. He shuffled the ball away to safety and Cuala's mentors breathed again. The Cuala backs dusted themselves off, Davy Cunningham and Luke Keating were sprung from the bench and a more determined Cuala took back the initiative with ten minutes left on the clock. Cunningham scored the third goal for Cuala to settle the nerves and the gap between the sides widened once again. Cuala ran out winners on a score-line of 3.15 to 2.5. Another very satisfactory day at the office! Cuala Boys do Dublin Colleges Proud in Leinster
Final "When young David Treacy stood up to accept the Leinster
Colleges hurling trophy on Saturday afternoon he didn't sound quite
like Ross O'Carroll Kelly, but you could tell what side of the city
he came from. Beside him on the podium, Finn McGarry, the talented
Boden keeper, stood grinning. Finn wears his hair with a bleach
in it and looks like he just stepped off a surfboard (when Finn
warms up with Boden though the flowing ginger locks of Brian Kennedy
ensure the prize for most flamboyant hurler of the day go elsewhere)
. . .You looked at the pair of them, successful Dublin minors last
year, and realised these are serious young hurlers and ooze cool
and star quality. Treacy in particular impressed on Saturday. Not
for the first time in Dr Cullen Park (he was majestic there against
Wexford last year) he gave an exhibition of hurling and was by a
clear head the best player on the field . . .For the GAA in Dublin
the emergence of places like Ballyboden and Stillorgan and Dalkey
as the heartlands of hurling represents an interesting but welcome
challenge. Those places have, remarkably, developed their own culture
of hurling. Boden are county senior champions, Crokes the minor
champions . . .One or other, but probably both, will win an All-Ireland
club championship within 10 years. Cuala won't be far off that either." U21s bow-out after a brave fight |
Shea Reynolds (2pts) doing most of the damage in the latter stages
of the second half. Cuala went down on a scoreline of just 1-13
to 1-15 with David Treacy (1-7) and Conor
Gough (2pts) showing up front with Paul Schutte
and John Sheanon excelling in the backs. Sheanon
produced one of the finest points ever to be seen in Hyde Park with
an oustanding individual effort in the second half. However, the
story of the game was the contribution of Lucan's Dublin star Johnny
McCaffrey in the second half who dominated proceedings by scoring
a goal and hitting some fine long-range frees.|
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