Keyes to the fore as Camross cruise to victory over Castletown in Senior Hurling Championship

Camross started off their Senior Hurling Championship campaign with a hugely impressive victory over Castletown. 

Tomas Keyes shone for the victors at corner forward as he finished with a tally of 2-5 from play. 

Camross 3-22

Castletown 1-14

A relatively quiet first half finished with Camross leading by 1-12 to 1-7. A goal midway through the first half for Martin Phelan brought Castletown into contention after a sluggish start, but Mark Dowling soon cancelled it out with one for Camross. 

The second half was a lot different as Camross hit 1-5 in the opening eight minutes and had Castletown on the ropes early. 

Castletown struggled to recover from the early onslaught and Camross continued to strike points from Dan Delaney and Tomas Keyes added another goal to his tally after his first early in the half to put the game to bed. 

Ciaran Collier and Shane Phelan traded points early on in the game before Camross raced into a three point lead after six minutes with scores from Liam Delaney, Dan Delaney and Keyes. 

Dylan Conroy struck a great effort from range for Castletown’s first from play, but Camross came back with a vengeance hitting four in a row through Liam Delaney, Mark Dowling, Ciaran Collier and Keyes. 

Castletown trailed by six midway through the half but they were given a huge boost when Jack Breen latched onto a long ball into the corner from Ryan Mullanye before squaring to Martin Phelan in front of the goals and he battled his way to freedom before hitting the net. 

Keyes responded with a point immediately and James Cuddy won a penalty a moment later giving Camross a golden goal opportunity, but Dan Delaney blazed it over the bar. 

Ryan Mullaney and Aaron Gaughan struck for Castletown to reduce the gap to three points but a wonderful goal from Mark Dowling put Camross six ahead once more. 

Jack Breen and Keyes traded points as the game was starting to find a flow and liven up before Conroy and McKelvey both struck for Castletown. 

Dan Delaney had the final say of the half with a well taken free and Camross led 1-12 to 1-7. 

Camross were quick out of the traps in the second half as Mark Dowling pointed early on, soon replied to with a wonderful score from McKelvey out near the sideline on the 45. 

The next five minutes of play was when Camross really put Castletown to the sword. Keyes hit a lovely point before hitting the crossbar from close range. He immediately made up for it with a goal into an open net after some great play by Mark Dowling outside the square. 

Dan Delaney notched up three more points to hit tally to put Camross 12 points to the good on 38 minutes. 

Castletown tried to rally and hit two through McKelvey frees but they were really up against it. 

Camross stayed on the attack and started to lose their aim with several wides but Dan Delaney and Mark Dowling made amends with two good points. 

Conor Doran, Aaron Phelan and McKelvey combined for three points for Castletown but the game was essentially out of reach. 

Dan Delaney added another free before Tomas Keyes put the game beyond all reasonable doubt when he won the ball outside the 21 and showed an incredible turn of foot to race into space before hitting the top corner. 

Delaney and McKelvey traded frees as we approached the final whistle, but there was one final chapter in the game as Zane Keenan marked his first appearance of the year for Camross with an expertly taken point from distance.